Last week I shared that the trail is a great teacher. However, what I learn from her depends on me being a good student. I learn when I remain teachable. This week I expand on this theme with the wisdom of a colleague.
The Trail teaches each of us as we open ourselves to her. She makes us vulnerable by challenging us physically, mentally, and spiritually. One good friend and fellow hiker shared her insights. Darlene McGarrity permitted me to share her words. She wrote,
The Appalachian Trail will highlight your biggest fears and accent your greatest weakness. Your character defects will glare like water in the sun. ‘Know thyself’ will become a mantra as you tackle a journey unlike any other. Ideas like ‘false self’ and ‘true self’ take on a new meaning as you ask yourself every day ‘why am I here?’ A dozen different answers will swirl in your head like the ice cream you’ve been dreaming about for four days. You’ll meet and engage with people that you wouldn’t bat an eyelash at on the street. You will connect with many of them. Others will remind you of the very demons you wish to shed. Know thyself. You’ll become who you always were… the layers of societal norms will be stripped away. You’ll be left with yourself in such rawness you won’t recognize the pettiness you once complained about. That’s just in the first 300 miles.
Darlene’s powerful insight is true. When we slowdown from our fast-paced lives where we are flying down the interstate, across oceans, or through the sky, we discover many things that are often overlooked. When we slow down to hike at one or two miles per hour, we find God’s speed. We begin to see that flowers and trees are individual things and not merely fields and forests. We see squirrels, birds, deer, bears, elk, snakes, worms, caterpillars, and all types of critters. The complexities of life’s busyness are eclipsed by the simple as we slow our pace enough to see the trail.
The simplicity of hiking may be the tap root from which all other lessons grow. The lesson of simplicity that I learned has two parts. First, simple is seldom the same thing as easy. Simplicity is often dismissed as something that is quick and easy. However, such thinking is flawed and the value of the simple is lost because we desire to be sophisticated and wise. As we collect letters after our name, we become too intelligent to waste time considering the simple. We seek to unravel the complexities of life. However, we are poorer for overlooking the simple. No, simple is not the same as easy. In fact, simply walking step-by-step, climbing up 3,000 feet to reach the summit of a mountain is much more challenging that driving along winding roads through Colorado propelled by a powerful engine in the luxury of a car. Cars are complex machines and roadways are engineering marvels but walking along worn paths brings an entirely different reality to the simplicity of nature. Simple is seldom easy.