It was very emotional for everyone leaving this morning from Blacksburg, at least for those who have some sort of tie to the town. If nothing else, it is hard knowing there are no more “Comfortable situations” left for me. I have been through my home town shortly followed by my home away from home, but from now on I am on to uncharted territory, unmarked land that is new to me, also absent will be the feeling of comfort that comes from being in a familiar territory that in reality just makes it harder to wake up the next morning and move on. So from now on the grace period is over and I’m on my own.
Lying in my tent at night after a long 85 mile day I reflect on the trip thus far. Though this experience, however fresh and new it may be, only 7 days deep, I am beginning to learn so much about what is important to me and what I like and want in my life. From simple things like the joy that comes from cooking a full meal on a stove that could fit in your pocket (which makes everything taste so much better) to big things like the kind of person I hope to be one day, and what is truly important to me as a person. Testing yourself in the wild is not only about proving to yourself your capability and the possibilities in your life, but also, to remove the luxuries from your life is to strip your life of things that make you the same as everyone else, leaving you only with what makes you unique. Experiencing this shows you more about yourself than you ever thought possible. The things that you love will reveal themselves to you and the materialistic things that you perhaps thought defined your life before will fall by the wayside. I do not expect to return home a changed person, if fact just the contrary. I expect to return home with a new understanding of myself and how I want to live my life, this is what testing yourself is all about and what I am currently experiencing on my grand adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment