Patagonia
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient…. Walt Whitman
I recently traveled to the end of the earth to hike in southern Patagonia and it is like no place I have ever been. It was incredible and life changing. I write this months later and I am still in awe of the experience. It brings tears. The wind is so intense, weather ever changing and the most spectacular mountains. Each day was different. Each day had its challenges. Each day brought jaw-dropping rewards.
On a particular arduous hike (where you keep thinking “we have to be getting close”) I turned a corner and just started laughing and crying tears of joy at the magnificence before me. I felt so small (in the very best way because there is small and there is small – I have to figure out how to distinguish them when writing)
Small in the very best way: Feeling I am part of something so much bigger and realizing my perceived problems are just that. I recognize there is a creative intelligence in constant motion around me. I laugh at my worries and fears and anxiety because I experience something that is so beyond my perceived reality. It is witnessing an avalanche while eating lunch, watching an iceberg calving or standing in the middle of a field surround by rock formations that are 40 million years old. In these moments, there is nothing but pure joy and awe and appreciation for everything that is.
The other small: It is living from a place of lack versus living from a place of abundance. It is letting your thoughts take over and dictate your life so you are not truly living. “My post only got 45 likes.” “I don’t like my job but I can’t leave it.” “I wish I could travel more.” “I am not good at relationships.” “They didn’t invite me again.” Living in this way is like living in the waiting room……
So I pray everyone gets to experience a moment where there is no thought but only deep gratitude. A moment that shakes up your life. Free yourself from the indoor complaints,
begin to write your own story. Live with grace and joy and know that everything is working out.