It’s safe to assume that most people’s favorite part about camping is sitting around the warm, cracking fire each night. The campfire is where we gather, share stories and often lose ourselves in the stars on a perfectly clear night. There is an undeniable magic and here’s why…
1. Quality Time
Around a campfire we are able to minimize distractions. Often, we don’t even pay attention to time, and instead allow the sky to guide us. The glow of the fire allows us to relax, let our guards down, listen and be present in the moment. As a result, conversations tend to be deeper, stories are funnier, and they often take us down roads that are not often traveled. We all need that, as do our relationships.
2. Food Tastes Better
After a day of adventure outdoors, it doesn’t get much better than a meal cooked over the campfire. It’s simply better. Whether it’s something a bit more extravagant requiring careful preparation and all the right seasonings, or something simple like a hobo pie or hot dogs over an open flame, it’s going to be delicious. And whether or not your belly is full, there is always room for a s’more, because well, do you ever treat yourself to a s’more when you aren’t around a campfire?
3. Guaranteed Relaxation
There’s no denying it, the warmth of the fire, it’s glow and flicker, and the crackle of the wood are therapeutic and soothing. It’s hard to pull yourself away once you’re lost in those flames and temporarily transported somewhere else, hypnotic in a sense. Beyond that, studies have found that the crackle can actually reduce blood pressure. Complete and pure relaxation is inevitable.
4. Nostalgia
Enjoying a campfire may be all about living in the moment, but there’s something about them that have a way of taking us back to some of the best times. In these moments we so clearly remember family camping trips in our earlier days or those as we grew older with friends and how much they meant to us. It’s amazing how vividly some of the details are recalled and how somehow even the temperature and the smell in the air on some particular night’s years prior are so clear. For so many of us, campfires are our happy place