Biking across the country - The time I biked 80 miles with a 10 mile climb at the end of the day after eating breakfast with cowboys from the previous nights rodeo to get to the motorcycle gathering where I was so hungry I ate 2 cheeseburgers...as a vegetarian. Or, the time I hitchhiked halfway across Kansas because it was 110 degrees with 90% humidity and not a single tree in sight so I thought I'd die. Sometimes I hated my bike and wanted to kick it, sometimes it felt like an extension of my body, but it was always a ticket to freedom.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail - How it changed my life and led me back to school. One of the lessons I learned is what you need always comes to you. Always. My time in the woods made me become incredibly sensitive to noise and smells. The longer I was out there, the more sensitive my nose became. I could smell a day hiker from a half mile away, and could continue smelling their cleanliness for up to another mile after passing them. For a long time I couldn't drive with my windows down because the noise from other cars was too much to handle.
Or the time I went sailing across pavement at 20 mph and shredded all of my clothes and tore open my knee. Or when I went urban sledding on the sidewalk and gashed open my chin and had to get stitches.
The recent adventures in teaching myself how to play the mandolin. I grew up playing the piano, and also dabbled with the clarinet, saxophone, guitar, harmonica, violin, drums a handful of times, and now, the mandolin. My father went to school for music and has played professionally for decades, so music is in my blood. I don't, however, consider myself to be a musician or to be great at any instrument. I can't comprehend sheet music, so I have always played by ear, and learned the piano playing by number.
Most of the stories I feel that I need to get out have to do with my adventures, as they have all greatly impacted my life. Being pushed to my absolute physical and emotional limits and experiencing the highest of highs has brought out the best and worst in me.
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ReplyDeleteHey Patrice,
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited to read whatever stories you decide to post! It sounds like you've had some really cool adventures. It also seems like through these adventures, you've been collecting pieces of yourself along the way. What I'm most excited to read about is what you learned about yourself and life in general throughout your journey.
"what you need always comes to you."
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see that as a focus or point in one of your essays. I've never experienced living a minimalist lifestyle, but I'm sure its a humbling experience.
A few questions I have:
Why did you do those things? Did you want to find yourself? Was it just fun?
Looking forward to reading your stories.
Patricia - I traveled in that capacity to learn now to live a minimalist lifestyle, connect with nature, refocus my life, figure myself out, have a kickass adventure, be able to eat pints of ice cream on the regular and still lose weight, and to test my limits. There's a million more reasons, and more and more reasons come to me all the time.
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