1. A Change is as Good as a Holiday

Wake up, eat, work, watch TV, sleep. Repeat. If those aren't urgent reasons to get out of town, what is? Step out of your comfort zone and hurl yourself into a small adventure! There are all manner of adventures you can have in the countryside from picking your own fruit at a farm to wine tasting. It's fun, it's creative and something out of your ordinary routine.

2. Strengthen Your Creative Bone

Head out into the countryside, take a deep breath and remember what it was like to be creative; express yourself in media other than grunts and groans at the sight of concrete jungles. Why not even pack a pad and some water colors and paint the beautiful scenery? And if that doesn’t appeal, use your phone camera to take pictures. Your townie friends will love your countryside selfies.

3. Take to the Skies for a Better Perspective

Hasn't being fettered to a concrete surface by the Earth's gravitational pull made you irritable for long enough? Take to the skies! If hot air ballooning makes the Dorothy in you quiver and reach for her map of Kansas, hop in a helicopter and see America's Grand Canyon from above or let Australia's awesome landscapes give you a bit of perspective about life, art and everything.

4. Find Time and Space to Think

In the countryside you can rediscover the Zen and zest for life in you. Find a place to sit. Listen to the sounds of nature – the breeze in the trees or the grass, the sound of crickets, the calls of birds, water babbling in a brook... Just feel that stress and discontentment melt away!

5. Memories Are Made of These

Nobody remembers on their death bed doing spreadsheets in the office! It will be the special moments you'll recall, like when your hot air balloon blew off course but your guide still landed the basket safely...or when you fell over after a wine-tasting and landed in the arms of a handsome stranger... or how you met a Serb when picking strawberries and spent the day laughing even though you hardly understood the words you were saying to each other…

6. Rediscover Your Inner Gourmet

Instead of wolfing down yet another non-descript sandwich at work, have lunch at a place you haven't tried before. Maybe you don’t have time to go far so pack a lunch in the morning and at lunch go to a park or other space where concrete isn’t too welcome. Savor your lunch and enjoy the taste sensations at a leisurely pace.

7. Forget the Deadlines and Be Free of Time

Modern life is all about rushing from one task to another, meeting deadline after deadline – and that isn’t just in work, but in our social life too. Even at weekends we can be governed by time. When was the last time you had a completely free page in your diary or an empty to do list? Wake up tomorrow with just one thing on your to-do list. “Get out of town.” Just go. Feel free.

Mother Nature is calling your name. Can you hear her?