Hiking for the soul: A walk with nature is all the cure you need

I first heard about hiking, or at least started paying attention, when Sachin, a friend of mine, started talking about it in one of our conversations. Sachin (whose blog is unfortunately inactive) is a native Nepalese who currently resides in the U.S. for educational purposes. Since Nepal far up in the mountains near Mt. Everest, hiking is very popular there. He told me that he would love to start hiking regularly here in the U.S. and was making plans to do so. He actually got me pretty excited about trying it out.

Unfortunately, hiking isn’t really that popular here in Florida because much of the state is totally flat or covered by swamps which often need airboats to get through. But we’ve been having great weather this month here in Florida and I suddenly had the urge to go hiking even if it’s something I’ve never done before.

Do you ever get an urge like that? If so, you should follow it instead of suppressing it because you never know where it will take you.

Hiking in Maine

In any case, someone must have heard me because I ended up in Maine where I took my first itty-bitty hiking trip ever. Let me tell you: that measly little walk planted a seed in me to appreciate nature like never before. I’m nowhere near the fittest person in the world and I’ve never been the outdoorsy type, but I can tell this experience is going to transform my life. My interest in hiking has seriously increased ten-fold since then. I came home and started looking up sites about hiking and reading about people who also enjoy hiking. I can kind of understand now why it’s so infectious.

To start hiking, you definitely don’t have to be anything like Andrew Skurka, who has hiked more than 23,000 miles all over North America in the past eight years and has recently started a 4,700-mile, 7-month trek in Alaska and Yukon. If you can walk, you can do it. Even if you can’t, I’m sure there’s someone out there who found their way around that challenge. If you’ve never been hiking, start easy. I ended up going to Bradbury Mountain State Park, where the trials aren’t too challenging but interesting enough for the beginner or anyone just looking for a relatively easy trek.

Just be sure to bring a walking stick or find a long branch that will serve the same purpose! I found a branch that was quite useful; so much that it felt like a third leg. As silly as it sounds, I was really sad to see it go when we left the park.

I also managed to take some pictures – something I always forget to do. I’ve placed them throughout the post for the viewing pleasure of anyone who cares to look. They aren’t the best quality, but they’re mine and they’re memories. In any case, the environment and views were beautiful and relaxing. Maine may very well become one of my favorite places just because of all the relaxing times and great memories I had there within a short period of time.

The benefits of walking with nature

I say walking with nature and not in nature because you already have a piece of nature in you. And when you go outside in it, you’ve become even more connected with it – and so it’s moving along with you. When walking out there in the park, I just felt an overwhelming sense of interconnectedness. I’m far away from the city and the suburbs, so they’re the furthest thing from my mind at that point. I realized to myself: this is where we all come from – this is how we all came to be. Now I realize I’m sounding like a crunchy-granola hippie on acid and a lot of people may not relate to that. But you can appreciate nature without putting that kind of label on yourself. Nature doesn’t need a label and neither do you. Other reasons why walking with nature via hiking is awesome for the soul:

1. You’re breathing in plenty of fresh, natural air – something many of us don’t get to do very often. In our society, the air we breathe is either too polluted or it’s over-sterilized. Both are bad. Not to mention as you’re trekking up, you tend to take deeper breaths. With each breath your body gets more of the oxygen it needs, removes more carbon dioxide, and keeps your heart pumping and your blood circulating nutrients better.
2. You get plenty of quiet time to self-reflect. Something about hiking has a way of calming your mind and minimizing useless mental chatter. I also didn’t feel like talking much (not that I ever do in the first place), so I didn’t. I don’t know if it’s because you’re paying too much attention to the terrain and watching where you stepping, you’re enjoying the views and sounds too much, or both. And like I said, you feel so far away from everything that your worries also stay away. In any case, less mental chatter is always better – or at least the ability to become more aware of it.
3. Depending on which trial you take, you’re rewarded at the summit with the best views of all, the feeling of accomplishment, and chance to relax. On our trip, we packed a few sandwiches. After looking around at the summit, we just sat down, ate a light lunch, and took a power nap lying on our backs. There’s really nothing like lying down and taking a nap outdoors. It reminds me of when a care-free, six-year old me rolling around in the grass in my front yard before I got too scared of the bugs and snakes crawling around.

And that wraps up the reasons to hike in the eyes of a beginner. What more reason do you need to start? I really hope to find and trek up some more trails this year.

**If you’re new here and enjoyed this post, be sure to subscribe for future posts and updates. And feel free to share this post … I’d really appreciate it! Don’t forget to introduce yourself in the comments. Don’t be shy … I don’t bite. You can also add me on Twitter (@valeriemondesir).**

Related posts:

1. Just do it: Put your sneakers on and walk backwards
2. A Case Study: Dealing with seasonal mood swings
3. How to start exercising for wussies (and why you shouldn’t bother setting weight goals)