Photographed in southwestern Iceland.
Kindly supported by Herbalife. 
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We all are children of nature, wether we still feel it or not. The further you go back in time and history the more us humans were connected to our planet, to it's soul, soil, water and wildlife. We did not choose to roam free it was just who we were. We knew which plant cured which sicknesses, which bird made which sound and which berries and mushrooms were poisonous. We don't have to go back to the hunter-gather lifestyle to find those roots, again but we are convinced that life should be lived outside. That wilderness is our most natural habitat. That roaming free is our elemental state of being. The two of us, especially being so connected to and intertwined with Social Media, are glued to our phones, laptops and tablets for most of the day and week. And even though we absolutely and utterly love our job we would both only be half of a person if we wouldn't put all those devices away for at least once every day and head outside to clear our heads. Fresh air and a cold breeze make everything else so absolutely irrelevant, driving out of town on the weekend for a little road trip is what feeds our souls, what keeps our hearts pounding and our brains functioning. To connect with your surroundings gets more and more important since it seems we are growing into a society that completely loses touch with mother earth and the great outdoors. 

It's about time we reconnect. That doesn't necessarily mean to go on intense hikes, sleep under the stars or cross an entire country by bike it just means to be out there, to feel the sun on your skin, the wind in your hair and to set your feet on ground that isn't a busy street or a fancy coffeehouse rug but a pathway that leads through moss or forest or dunes or hills or something alike. Out there, not in here. Eyes on the horizon, not on the phone. You just have to get out of the city and you will find that there's so much more to explore. Rivers, valleys, gorges, mountains, waterfalls, tall trees and colorful flowers - it's all there to be found, to be seen. Let's not get inspired by beautiful pictures on Pinterest, only but by all those beautiful pictures the clouds paint into the sky, as well. We are consumed by the World Wide Web, by Netflix and chill and by what others present to us as the perfect life. And whilst that's just what progress means and the future might very well be even more filled with devices and virtual reality, there still is a reality outside our four walls - and it's beautiful.

Just recently we took a break from work and quickly walked to the store to get some lunch when we suddenly realized how the earth started to smell like spring and above all: how you CAN actually smell it. The trees are in bud, already and the air was filled with such a crazy awesome mix of ocean mist and wet soil. We stayed out a little longer and soaked it all in. Just five more minutes but it changed our overall mood from 'regular work day' to 'what a beautiful, almost spring-y day'.

We might have gotten the 'outdoors' gene from our parents since they head out into nature whenever they can, as well. During lunch break at work, on the weekends, during the holidays. We've spent our childhood vacations in tents and camper vans, on mountains, in the woods and close to the ocean. We grew up climbing, hiking and biking. We lived in households where sentences like 'smell how the air is sweet with hydrangea', 'can you hear the throstle sing?' or 'you have to be outside to clear your mind' were omnipresent. Naturally, that lead to us spending our holidays in climbing camp when we were older. Or biking all the 45min to the lake outside of town on the weekends even though there was a swimming pool just around the corner. Our childhood and youth were spent in front of the door. We had a few years, though - right before we came to Iceland - where we adapted to 'big city life'. A lot of clubs and events and days filled with series and fast food. (Not that such days wouldn't be awesome, every now and then, as well.) But we disconnected from nature quite a bit during that time and it took us a while to figure out how unhappy it made us and how unnatural it felt to never roam wild. Now there hardly is a weekend where we don't take the drive to spend some time out there in the open. No matter if it's just an afternoon filled with coffee and a quick bite sitting in the grass or an entire day of hiking yet another mountain. 

Another thing we felt when living in the city was constant fatigue. From the smog, from all the fast food, from only moving at the gym and therefore mostly inside. We've never been sick as often as back when we had an apartment downtown in one of the biggest cities in Germany. A lot has happened since then. We get out daily, changed our eating habits (we wrote about that just recently) and move way more, again. We feel healthier than ever. Seriously, we haven't been sick with a flu or anything alike in years (fingers crossed it stays that way) and we are certain that living outside equally much as inside contributed to that fact A LOT!

Fueling your body and soul with adventure is one part of the story, fueling your body while being on an adventure the other. We fuel our adventure like we fuel everyday life - with healthy, easy nutrition. Next to appreciation for nature we grew up with another rule in our homes: no unhealthy food. And even though we didn't find it as awesome to get candy in small rations back then and a shake of the head when we bought fast food (we still get those, btw) we absolutely appreciate it, looking back. Caro's mom cooked fresh and amazing food with local ingredients, little salt and lots and lots of veggies and Caro's dad and Linda's parents took us on hikes. Long ones, where we brought water and sandwiches and energy bars. We still keep that up. The greens and the energy bars. When we go on a hike, when we explore the outdoors, whenever we roam - we bring water and coffee, sandwiches and protein bars. It reminds us of all the peaks we already climbed together and it feeds our adventure, whenever we need it. As you might have guessed, our recent go to snack is by Herbalife, just like the nutritional shakes we are having for breakfast. We introduced them to you just a few weeks back when we told you about our change in nutrition. We still love the shake-to-go breakfast and feel like it changed our daily routine immensly by helping us feel more energized. Naturally, we also tried more of their product range and so we ended up being obsessed with the Protein Bars, as well. When you are on a hike and you don't want a super long break to not cool down to much and not get too tired to continue it's just so convenient to quickly have a bar that will easily keep you going for the next two hours. Also, it happened to us many times that we went for a little stroll and ended up being out for hours with nothing to chew on. We both tend to live on the hangry side of life ;) so we made it a routine to grab a bar whenever we leave the house. Be it for a walk, an afternoon spent outside or a real mountain adventure. 

With Herbalife you get two different type of bars, the Formula One Express healthy meal bars in Yoghurt-Berry or Chocolate (we prefer Berry) and the awesome gooey candy-like Protein Bar (Vanilla Almond, Chocolate Peanut & Citrus Lemon flavor), containing vitamins B6 and B12 which makes it the perfect on the go snack. ON THE GO. Out in the woods. Back to our most natural state of being. Let's end this article with one of our favorite quotes.

"And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul"
- John Muir