I made it a task to go outside and hike somewhere, no matter where I was, what I was doing, or how I was feeling. The signal in my cellphone cuts out in the backcountry, and I’m forced to take a break and focus on a new challenge–having a good time, seeing some cool things, and reflecting on what is going on around me.
Last year, I took some time to explore the universe from a number of different perspectives. I hiked nearly every weekend, and I reshuffled my life for a fresh look at the world. I took a year away from writing and lived what felt like a thousand extra lives. I jokingly call it my arsenal of content for the thousands of stories that I could write about.
I’ve taken a moment to jot down notes about all of the places that I have seen, the people that I have met, and the “lives” that I lived all at once. The cold holiday season of 2022 made shelter more enticing. This, naturally, creates more writing.
I realize that I need to bring the two together again.
Writing only encourages more writing. When you are creating a life where you get paid to write and have time to write for yourself, you have to make an effort to write and begin imagining writing in other places. This is the advice from so many writers that I finally took to heart. Set aside time to write and then just write.
My goal is to take the download of different stories and ideas that flow through me while hiking and being outside in nature and share them with people on the internet again. I want to give context to the images I share of adventures and schemes online and give myself a reminder of how I was really feeling at the moment. I want to remind myself to write and give myself the space and time to write so I can continue being a better writer and marry my loves of literature, social justice, art, writing, and nature together.
So, my hiking goal for the New Year will also involve writing about my experiences again. I plan on taking inspiration from the natural world. I want to draw my motivation from the impenetrable giant rocky mountains, towering trees, the sea of sand baking in the hot desert sun, and the seemingly endless expansion of powerful waters crashing on top of each other in the ocean. I want to make sure I’m holding myself accountable again by eliciting the help of mother nature as my muse.