I was just out on my porch drinking a beer, thinking about how different outside can be from inside, even when it involves almost no physical distance at all. Something there is that doesn't love them walls.

What percentage of your life do you now spend outside? Do you feel differently when you're outside? Do you wish you spent more time outside? Is your inside personality different from your outside personality? Have you ever slept outside? Some middle class people call sleeping outside "going camping"!

Homeless people often live and sleep outdoors. There's often a certain status factor attached to being able to be indoors. If sleeping outdoors became fashionable, would you follow the crowd or stay snug in your bedroom bed?

Weather is the big dealbreaker here, so let's postulate perfect weather forever for the purposes of this thread.

first. outside is cool

If I lived somewhere with nice weather year round I would be outside all the time. As long as its a nice temp out (60+) and there arent a bajillion bugs all about than I would much rather be outside than inside.

I like being outside and I enjoy camping, etc. but there is no way I would give up my bed to sleep outdoors forever, no matter how fashionable it was.

i still feel with my hands usually. i wouldnt say its any differently from how i feel when im inside.

My mom is a golf nut, and I played a lot of golf as a teen. But I was always uncomfortable when I was outside on a golf course. Something about the open space combined with the stylized course layout and ground maintenance was unsettling to me. I always felt relieved when I made it back to the clubhouse. No more golf for me.

I've got some woods in my backyard that I feel very comfortable in, though.

If the weather is decent and the bugs not bad being outside is WAY nicer than being inside. Weather is huge here.

I have slept "outside" a lot if you include sleeping in a tent. I have only slept outside without a tent a few times and actually did not enjoy it all that much to be honest. The biggest problem was bugs. Everything else was fine but the whole mosquito and creepy crawly bug thing bothered me. Now I have been known to take a nice little nap when I am out hunting all day. Nothing nicer than finding a place with a good view and some nice comfortable ground and snoozing off for a little bit in the early afternoon.

Of course nowadays, I own a camper and the days of sleeping in a tent or on the ground are gone. Much Much nicer to have the comfort of a camper.

Damn those bugs. I'm having a lot of problems with scorpions and fire ants. My dad owns some backwoods land in southwest Missouri that I used to like to camp on, but if I didn't spray vigilantly, I'd get bit by thousands of ticks and chiggers, and that is nothing less than a living hell.

If by outside you mean a nice room at the beach in a Ritz Carleton, then yes, I prefer to be outside.

But Dominic, if you're at a coffeeshop playing poker, wouldn't you rather be outside at a nice table than be inside?

Actually, I love being outside...golf, hiking, etc....I do miss the woods, as I live in Vegas...but we can always come up to Mount Charelston for that.

I am more likely to be outside when there is bad weather. I enjoy it for some reason. Snow is probably my favorite but rain never bothers me either. I spend most of my time indoors however due to work. Still I can't say I mind that much. I get enough time outdoors to make me happy.

I have slept outside in a leanto that I made myself. It was great I would do it more often if life was not so busy.

kioshk have you ever seen or read "Alone in the Wilderness?

Stuey, I haven't read that. I've read Thoreau.

inside. especially since its april my allergies suck

outside is much better than inside....pretty much always. It sucks that most people dont get to spend much time outdoors.

fish....this weekend i bought my first real fishing pole as an adult you'd have been proud!

Being outside, even in sh*tty weather, is almost always better than being indoors.

Being outdoors almost always makes me feel freer and more open to the richness of life's possibilities. But every once in a while, when I'm in a certain mood, the outside makes me feel vulnerable. Then I start getting paranoid about the dark richness of life's possibilities.