Road Trip!

An unplanned journey of mental detox

All the sudden I realized I was reading email – despite my very clear decision…..my promise to myself four days earlier days to not check email…..I was scrolling through email. I had subconsciously opened the app and was mindlessly reading…. This is exactly why I decided to go on this “walk about” ….

Last Fall I was very fortunate to take the entire month of October to drive, camp and hike across the West… solo.  I converted our 10 year old, 120K mile Cadillac escalade into a camper (now named the Caddy Shack”) - complete with mattress, battery, fans, refrigerator….. and even a Keurig. With my stealth window panels I could pull over anywhere, anytime and camp quite comfortably.

I set off from Myrtle beach for Glacier National Park with no plan after that….. just wander… each day just follow my heart and mind wherever they wanted to go.  I was able to take in the beauty of National Parks (Glacier, Cascades, Olympic, Canyonlands) Willamette Valley, Moab , wilderness of Wyoming, Nevada Arizona – even Texas. I usually took advantage of dispersed camping in the isolated BLM lands or National Forests.

I won’t bore you with all the places and thoughts and experiences…. But I found the unplanned journey to be very restorative in three ways I do want to share….

Time for Introspection

I was surprised how difficult it was turn off my overactive organizing, optimizing, prioritizing, hypothesizing brain…. In addition to subconsciously opening email, my overactive brain was calculating speed, distance and likely arrival times, needed gas stops……  the voice was demanding that I figure out where to spend night, determine what was for dinner….

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”  Anne Lamott

I could not get the voice to shut up….But it did happen slowly…. My schedule began to revolve around the sun and weather…. I began exploring small dirt roads that the voice had previously declared as “out of the way”.

I also found myself thinking….. I discovered that it is very hard to escape /avoid oneself in the absence of incoming important emails, critical conference calls, breaking news, urgent texts…. the introspection was challenging – confronting issues that are uncomfortable….. shortcomings, failures, disappointments, guilt come to the surface..

….examining things left undone or halfway done…facing bad intentions, grudges, insecurities that are difficult to grab hold of and examine….

Of course there are two sides – appreciating the accomplishments and positive things that I have been a part of was much easier…. Though with thoughtful reflection my personal contributions to those bright spots was right sized….

It occurred to me I had for a long time I avoided looking deep inside…. My overactive brain, a packed schedule, email, twitter, texts were all a welcome distraction ….  Perhaps an encouraged distraction …….

“The unexamined life is not worth living”  Socrates

I am beginning to appreciate that being excessively busy is a very poor coping mechanism and not healthy.

I found Donna Peters' podcast  "How Busy People Make Space" to be insightful and helpful. I have adopted a number of these insights from the NY Times on personal digital detox.

Forest Bathing

There is a wonderful Japanese term Shinrin Yoku  - translated as “forest bathing” the practice of deliberately immersing oneself in nature….I found myself just absorbing the beauty of a wide open space, a far off mountain range, a small brook or mushrooms growing on the side of a tree…. Something special happens to me when I am immersed in nature…

There is significant medical research (more here and here ) that exposure to nature and the outdoors brings real physical and mental benefits – so much so that Canadian doctors are prescribing National Park visits

“Experiences of awe attune people to things larger than themselves. They cause individuals to feel less entitled, less selfish, and to behave in more generous and helping ways.”  Paul Piff 

Forced New Perspectives

It strikes me that something happens to our brain when we travel….. we are forced to see and experience things that are unfamiliar…. we must interact in a new way…. our subconscious rules and norms and truths are challenged……

I stopped for gas and groceries in Browning, Montana in the the Blackfeet Indian Reservation…. The small, ragged town is struggling…poverty is evident…

a torn green flyer taped to the acrylic screen in front of the cashier pleads  
Free Drug Dependence Counseling

….. a faded billboard a few miles away almost begs passing drivers with its ad for a suicide prevention hot line.  I was uncomfortable…. No one did anything to make me feel unwelcome…… but I was in a very unfamiliar place….

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”  Pat Conroy

Over and over again the new places and excess freedom forced my mind to see, to notice…  then contemplate ……  and it then somehow, somewhere deep inside …… and maybe in just the smallest way, the experience permanently altered the way I see the world.

“Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.” Cindy Ross

I fully appreciate that taking a month off to travel is an extraordinary privilege…..

But I am also learning that a 15 minute Calm meditation is refreshing …..  an hour of a deliberately unplanned wander has benefits… and a 3 day weekend “forest bath” with a “digital fast” can be a reset….

Finally, I am a sucker for any road trip story…. My all time favorite is  Blue Highways  

Atlas Obscura’s list of literature's most epic road trips is the source for the greatest couch road trips…

Thoughts for a Friday….

Walt