At times when you find it excruciatingly difficult to write a blog post that you’d feel worthy to be shared with your audience, try going outside. Being outdoors can help boost your creativity and make writing a lot easier.

Studies have proven that a more natural setting directly affects one’s creativity. Going outside helps people think more creatively, which means they’ll have an easier time accomplishing tasks that require creativity, like writing and other stuff.

One study spearheaded by Ruth Ann Atchley, an associate professor of cognitive/clinical psychology at the University of Kansas showed that people who spent more time in nature manifested improved creativity. They concluded that the outdoors can result to greater level of creativity.

Their experiment involved a group of backpackers who were each given a certain test. The group that had more time to spend in nature were 50% more creative than the others.

It’s important to note that these backpackers were completely unplugged from the modern world, meaning they didn’t have gadgets with them and were totally immersed in nature.

The question now is will it be as effective to us who are always surrounded with gadgets? Our environment is filled with things that steal our attention from what we are doing so is it possible to boost your creativity despite that?

Will it require us to leave everything behind and spend days on the outdoors?

I don’t think so. You don’t need to go hermit-like just to boost your creativity. The fact that the respondents showed a significant creativity boost only shows that nature does have an effect on our brains. They were up on the trail for four days. I don’t think spending less time would not have at least a little effect.

It’s not possible for most of us to hike or spend days on a cabin in the woods completely devoid of electronic gadgets like laptops and smartphones. That doesn’t mean, however, that spending an hour or two at a park will not refresh our minds.

Think back to times when you decided to walk outside after a moment of writer’s block. Didn’t it work for you? Weren’t you able to go back to your desk with a fresher mind and different perspective to tackle the job?

What happens when we detach from our busy world is our mind relaxes. It gets the opportunity to take a breather and let down threat responses (like stress). The brain then frees up space that you can use for creative thinking and problem solving.

Think of it as a laptop that is running for hours already. You’ll notice that it starts to run slow. That’s because the RAM is full. You need to shut it down to free up some RAM so it can perform better.

That’s what happens to your brain when it’s exposed to nature. You free up space by detaching it from stressors.

So the next time you’re stuck, get your laptop–on second thought ditch that and get your notebook and head on to the nearest park or anywhere where you’ll see trees, plants, and the sky.

Don’t think of anything else. Don’t think of things that worry you. Don’t even think of your deadline. Just sit there and absorb your surroundings. Let your senses open up.

Then when you feel like you’ve rested enough, open that notebook and start writing. You’d be surprised at how easy the words will flow.