PRISONER EXPRESS

My favorite place to go while I've been incarcerated is outside. If I can go outside for an hour a day, my mental attitude, as well as my physical health benefits. While walking along the recreation yard, I can look across the street and see a whole new world. There are houses of many designs, trees of different sizes, and cars either zooming down the road are parked in front of homes. Everything is just so colorful. I can see the people outside doing yard work, kids playing, and even a cow or two grazing in the field. Since there are a few businesses, I also watch employees going to and from work.

There's nothing like the smell of fresh air. Whether it's raining outside or a cloudless day, there's a unique smell for each change in weather. The air outside makes me dream of things to do and places I'd like to visit. There's so much energy that I can feel flowing through my body, as I inhale the outdoors.

After being confined, surrounded by so my steel and cement, just being outdoors gives me a feeling of freedom. I've so often taken for granted being able to step outside. Now, I've learned to appreciate just the simple act of walking out the door so much more. I can't imagine ever changing my opinion on what my favorite place now is. No matter where I will go in life, that there will be "outdoors" wherever I am. I'll always have problems to deal with, but I know there's nothing I can't work through when I feel the cool breeze blowing over me and the warmth of the sun on my skin. I can step outside and inhale fresh air, while I exhale all my stress and worries.