Birthdays are the one day a year when people are reminded to self-reflect. It’s a chance to review life and your accomplishments and re-assess how you would like to move forward in life. For the last five years, on my birthday, I have ventured out into nature to write and meditate. It’s my own personal low-budget outdoor writing retreat that gives me a moment to reflect on my past and look to the future.  

My birthday is my moment of solitude with no present plans, busy schedules, or life distractions—a moment to pause and finally breathe. I usually take the day off from work and hike in a remote setting with minimal people. Each year, I have had to venture out into more remote places with the growing popularity of the public finding themselves outdoors. This is an amazing thing, but it does push me to become more creative with where in nature I plan on visiting. 

This year, I extended the day into a trip up to the beautiful Yosemite National Park. I hiked in the Yosemite wilderness and gazed at Half Dome and Yosemite Falls from afar. I then headed over the Tioga Pass and up into the Western Sierras with the colorful autumn trees, where I sat under flakes of orange and gold that flickered in the sunlight. 

I continued my trek down to Mono Lake, where the strange statues of calcium carbonate towered over salty water, before moving out into the rest of the desert and its dazzling sites. It was a quick and quiet getaway full of driving, parking along the side of the road at random, and writing in nature.  

I made no plans and moved around this more northern section of California based on a whim. When every single moment of your life is planned from before the sun rises to past sunset, it’s nice to know I have a day (or three) to drop off the face of the earth and not have to worry about anything else.