I am not sure if this is even a thing, I am a little nervous at this point to even Google it. It definitely can’t be an original concept. No way am I the first to have thought about this. The more I consider it, I bet you it has at some point been printed on a Patagonia T-Shirt.
I can make it about 3 weeks maximum before I have to go. Go away…away from traffic lights…text message alerts…the busyness of the metropolis that is city life. In my profession I can communicate with my co workers through…email…design change databases…Instant messages…my desk phone...my cell phone…text messages…action items and forbid someone stops by to do it the old fashion way and speaks to me. There is no shortage of distractions diverting my focus. I love people and I love communication through all of these channels, but it has become just too much. So much going on and to many things moving so fast. Maybe it is running away or maybe it’s just running towards something else.
On the trail my mind has a way to filter through and compartmentalize what’s important and what’s not…to explore what’s broken that needs to be searched through and thought about and separating what can wait until Monday when I return. When on the trail I usually spend the first 5 miles trying to remember whether or not I locked my tuck doors back on the trailhead. The next five are spent considering what I should have left out of my pack to save weight. Slowly the unimportant thoughts filter there way out…the one or two issues I need to work out come into focus. It becomes clear with the Clarity that comes only with being in the Backcountry. This clarity comes with purpose; the purpose to work through thoughts that you need not be pulled away from; the ones the busyness of typical daily distractions don’t allow you to explore. This is the time in which decisions that can potentially change the path of my life are explored. This is the time where I have the opportunities to consider alternative perspectives. It becomes the space in which I set new goals. This allows me to reach the decision points where I can decide to make a change. This time draws the starting line in which I can begin something new.
Backcountry Clarity is important. It’s where the work takes place. Not all questions get answered not all perspectives change but it’s the space within where growth can happen.