Into the Woods
There is something cathartic for me about walking into the woods and just experiencing nature. For a few hours, it is just you and nature and nothing else matters; you can just experience the beauty around you without having to worry about deadlines and obligations. When you get to do it with friends you share the experience with each other.
This weekend, I finally got to get out hiking again and I forgot how much I really enjoyed it. I went to one of the more local hiking trails that I had gone frequently to as a kid. I was joined by my wonderful wife and one of our great friends and we set off on the journey together.
It became very apparent very quickly that it was a good thing I started smaller. Old injuries started cropping up because I forgot to stretch before I started and it made the whole thing more difficult. If I had just dove straight into a more difficult hike, I would have been in serious trouble, especially if I had been alone like I had planned. I was glad I had friends there to help keep spirits up and we powered through all the problems together.
This hike ended up being much more difficult than I had intended. This particular hike involves some very rocky areas and steep slopes. A lot of it is also rock scrambles which can be incredibly fun, but are also very physically demanding. Ultimately, we got through it together and we got to see some awesome sights.
One thing the day highlighted for me is the unreliability of the human memory. It is amazing how confident we can be that we remember something in a particular way just to have that end up being completely wrong. I kept finding myself thinking I knew what was coming up next but I was just completely wrong. At some points I was even “remembering” things that didn’t even exist on the trail that we were hiking. This isn’t particularly insightful, we have known for a while that eyewitness testimony is incredibly unreliable for this very reason, but it was interesting to experience this first hand because we are generally more confident in our abilities than we should be in certain circumstances.
After just talking about how unreliable memory is, I want to bring up how much nature can change over just a few years from what I remember it being to now. There are always the micro changes-- such as fallen trees, running water, animals, and rock formations--but also the macro changes in the environment.
It is much easier to see the micro changes and they are much more expected from hike to hike. Sometimes there will be more trees down across the trail that you have to cross over. Sometimes there will be running or standing water in areas that there wasn’t the last time. You get to see all kinds of different animals while you are there too, for example we got to see quite a few hawks and some lizards. These are all much more expected and are part of what makes hiking the same trail interesting every time you hike it.
However, the more surprising changes are the larger ones. Trees grow to block areas that were previously exposed, landslides completely change the trail’s path, and larger fluctuations in the movement of water. With the exception of landslides, these are things that change slowly. If you go there frequently, you might not even notice these changes. You don’t notice the trees getting a little bit taller each time or the river slowly changing course. But when you step away for a larger time frame you are able to notice these changes.
I think this is good advice for life in general. People change slowly, much like the river slowly erodes the bank to change its course, people slowly change their behavior and become completely different people as time goes on. This is why when you run into someone you haven’t seen for years they can seem like you never even knew them to begin with. I think if I ran into someone from high school we would probably barely recognize each other.
This effect can also work in an opposite way when you are growing with other people. It is possible to grow apart but it is also possible to grow together. The best example I have of this is my wife and me. Looking back, we were very different people when we first started dating and now we are incredibly similar. Over the last eleven years, we have slowly influenced each other and shaped the people we are today. I am a much better person today than I was eleven years ago and it is all because of the influence she had on me and the guidance and support she provided as I grew as a person.
I think self reflection is incredibly important. It is easy to not notice these incremental changes that are happening, and they are not always for the best. I know I do not like who I used to be and I am a much better person now. However, there is always room to grow and I believe the point of life is to become the best person I can be. Take a minute to look back at yourself from a few years ago. It can be two, five, or even ten years or more. How have you changed? What has remained the same? Do you like the person you have become? Now think of the future. What do you want to become? What parts of your personality do you want to change? Most importantly, what do you want to remain the same?
