15/09/2020
It’s amazing what a few hours in the wild can do to your spirits.
Since moving to Alaska, one of the fears I’ve been working to overcome is going hiking solo. Out in the wilderness s**t can go wrong in an instant and if you don’t know what you’re doing it can be pretty terrifying.
This hike in particular involved about a mile of bouldering which was new to me. As I was making my way over these very large rocks I was imagining that one meme with the lady and all the mathematical equations in her head visible. As if each step was a calculation and if you calculated wrong, your mind would go into overdrive trying to figure out the next right calculation, leaving spectacular opportunities for face plants. Needless to say, I face planted hard a few times.
Each hike to me is sort of like a mirror of life itself. It is all about the journey and full of uncertainty. It’s about exploring your limits and learning to overcome. It also teaches you so much about life in learning to be present and full of awareness. It is easy to be on autopilot for hours, days, weeks, or even months at a time before snapping out of it and realizing that you’ve been merely existing, driven by impulse, and reacting to everything instead of thoughtfully responding.
And sometimes it teaches you that no matter how much you feel like the center of the universe with all that time spent inside your head, all it takes is one or two spectacular face plants to make you snap out of it.
