It’s funny how we all grow up with certain ideas about ourselves and about the world. These ideas often have no basis in reality, but we assume they’re real, because they’re convenient and simple. For example, I’m not a hiking person. Ask anyone--ask me, if you want, and I’ll tell you some people are hiking people, and some people, like me, are not.
If you’re not a hiking person, and you tell someone you’re about to go with the family on a 3 mile hike up a hill, their answer will always be the same: “You?!”
Because you’ve created this identity, and your identity makes sense. And this identity you’ve created helps you and others make sense of the world.
But what if it’s not true? What if you suddenly discover that climbing up a hill while holding your kids’ hands makes total sense to you? What if you love nothing more than letting your girl choose the paths you will all use on the hike, and your boy navigate the trail with a map?
Maybe an identity crisis can be a positive thing.
Now, I don’t know if we’ll end up hiking once a week this spring/summer, like we said we would when winter started. Sometimes it's too easy to stay home and say, “It’s OK. We’re not hiking people anyway.” But we’ll try again soon. It's good for the soul, this whole nature thing.
We are lucky where we live to be so close to mountains and some good hikes. There are even some decent places within Seattle's city limits. Doesn't mean we actually do much hiking though. We should.
ReplyDeleteYea, the first step out of the house is the hardest.
ReplyDeleteHa, I'm half-human when I go to Israel and have no access to the Internet until I find wi-fi.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous. Grew up in Northern Virginia, and that's what the trails twenty minutes from my house looked like - green, mysterious, carpeted with leaves . . . not quite what we've got here in California.
ReplyDeleteDespite very much being a hiking person, I've not brought my daughter on many hikes until recently, 'cause carrying thirty pounds of whine was never my cup of tea. But at 4, I think she's really turned a corner, and hiking is pretty much awesome. But if only we had your trees . . .
Excellent to see! Hope to have my boy with me on the trails in the next few years as well! Now just to move back to where hiking trails are plenty!
ReplyDeleteThe trees are great, but I'm sure California has its own amazing places. I was done with the stroller thing as soon as my kids took their first walk, so although the whine machine comes out every once in a while, they know it's either walk or "If you're tired, why don't you rest here under the tree, and we'll pick you up on the way back?"
ReplyDeleteTrue, California's got a ton. And even some cool trees, what with the redwoods and all, though we'd have to do some driving to get there.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't used a stroller in years, either. But, since my adventurous nature dampens under responsibility, we've only recently started authentically venturing very far as a family into the wild.
here these ideas often have no basis in reality, but we assume they’re original, because they’re convenient and simple. For example, I’m not a hiking person. Ask anyone--ask me
ReplyDeleteMalakoff Diggins SHP
malakoff diggins park
Malakoff-Diggins State Historical Park
hiking Malakoff Diggins
hiking trails at Malakoff Diggins SHP
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