Escaping Suburbia: Getting in Touch

Finally, the negative degree weather is over and I had a Saturday with nothing planned so I went on an adventure that I like to call Escaping Suburbia.  The weather wasn’t great, it was just above freezing and all the snow at my house was melted so I figured it would be extremely muddy what with all the melted snow.  I wasn’t even a little bit right.  Ten yards into the trail there was a foot of snow which was okay but a lot colder than I anticipated.  However, under the shade of the trees, the snow had compacted and it was all ice. 

Now, since I’m Julia, I wanted to take the tougher trail that was difficult and made you prone to slipping, even in eighty degree weather.  About five minutes into the hike, my boyfriend and I were slipping all over the place and I sat on a fallen tree, defeated.  I didn’t want to go on because I knew that the trail was really steep and if you fell the wrong way, you’d tumble three stories off the edge into a creek.  We didn’t want to be quitters so we decided that we would just go as far as we could, then turn back once it got too icy.  Two minutes later, we were at a steep drop with no trees or roots to help keep your balance.  We were about to turn back when I slipped a little and got an idea.  Instead of turning back, we slid down the ice on our butts, and what I thought would’ve been a crappy day turned into one of the most fun times I’ve had hiking.  There was a lot of butt sliding, climbing over fallen tree limbs, and falling through feet of snow into the creek.  It really wore me down.  I twisted my ankle and fell in the creek a couple of times, but it was awesome. 

You learn a lot about yourself when you’re forced to channel your wild side (wild in a nature/animalistic sense, not spring break in Cancun wild).  The typical person just sits and stands and walks and that’s it, really.  They might work out, but even then, it’s repetitive. Being around nature is what humans were supposed to do.  As much as people might disagree, humans are just animals with complex emotions.  We are no more important than other mammals and insects.  We don’t have any more of a right to Earth than every other creature we live with.  Going outside and getting in tune with everything out there (instead of looking at Facebook or Twitter) is exhilarating. 

When I’m hiking, I learn my body’s rhythm and stride better.  There is nothing to distract from myself.  It’s fun to see what you’re capable of.  One of my favorite feelings is when I’m going down a steep slope and I just let my feet fall in to place.  Hesitation just doesn’t exist in those moments.  The idea is that you don’t go down slowly and carefully, afraid of falling, you just leap and land without fear.  And I think that’s how life should be lived; without hesitation.  Just leaping and landing knowing that you could fall, but being okay with it.