Growing up in a heavily populated suburb close to New York City, the most outdoor activity I was exposed to were trips to the crowded playground and sprinting across the potholed street to the bagel store. So when I up and moved to New Mexico this past summer, the sheer vastness of unpopulated land and the seemingly endless amount of outdoor activities acted as quite a culture shock.
Once I acclimated to the altitude and substituted bagels with breakfast burritos, I took to the mountains. I thought my hiking days were over for the winter months until I got invited to go snowshoeing with a fellow guide from Walkabouts.
Now…I had just watched The Revenant in theaters. You know, where Leo DiCaprio’s character Hugh Glass gets mauled by a bear and has to face bitter winter elements while dodging Arikara Native Americans and French trappers?
I like to consider myself a mostly rational human being. However, I was convinced that if I was going to die anywhere, it would likely be on a snowy mountain…’cause I ain’t no Hugh Glass. But, the chances of encountering a mama grizzly and fur trappers were slim in the New Mexican mountains, so I hesitantly took the chance.
Once I got out there, strapped my snowshoes on, and ascended up, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else for the day. The trail had not been inhabited since the last snowfall, leaving the snow undisturbed in front of us for miles and miles.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m from New Jersey. My life back there was fast, hectic, and scheduled from sun up to sun down. Out of habit, I started booking it up the trail, only to find that I could only sustain that pace for about ten minutes until I would be completely out of breath and need a break. My friend looked at me and asked, “Why are you acting like this is a race?”
I thought for a second. I had nowhere else to be. I had nowhere else I would rather be. So why am I acting as though I have something to prove?
There is truly something to be said for pacing yourself. Not only on a trail. But in your day-to-day life. If there’s anything I can recommend to city dwellers who feel that there just aren’t enough hours in the day: There are. And it helps if some of those scheduled days include a trip to the mountains to clear your mind, put your priorities in perspective, and work off your breakfast burrito.
