If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I am a high-maintenance princess who hates the outdoors. Another thing you should know is that I will face all of my fears to try something new with somebody I love. I did exactly that recently, spending a week camping in the Colorado mountains with my boyfriend and another couple. I had only been camping once prior to this trip, but that was about ten years ago and only for one night. While this wasn't my ideal vacation, I was willing to try it out at least for the sake of having a good story. This girl, who can't go a day without perfect eyeliner wings and a bubble bath, submerged herself in the wilderness for a week without so much as a shower (okay, there was one shower. A girl can only hold out for so long). The trip not only supplied me with great stories to bring home, it also taught me a lot of things that I have since decided to share with the internet.
1. Expect the unexpected.
When you're alone in the forest, you have to be prepared for anything. We had a sort of mishap with a camping stove (and by "mishap," I mean a gas leak, fire and possible explosion), and that was just the beginning of a long list of misadventures. Granted a gas fire is kind of a "worst case scenario," but it really could happen to anybody and without any warning. I had never really been faced with an unexpected situation quite to that extent, and it taught me that you always have to be prepared for anything.
2. Staying positive in the worst situations will result in a not-so-bad situation.
While the stove fire was probably the worst of the misadventures, we had plenty more follow. Our last night there, we learned that the county we were camping in was under a complete fire ban. This meant we couldn't build our campfire, which meant we couldn't cook anything for dinner. We got pretty bummed out, but figured we were close enough to a town where we could just go get some food. Once we drove into town we realized that this tiny place basically shut down at around 7:30 P.M., and it was 8:00. Yet another downer for the night. We managed to find one single restaurant (a strange Asian-fusion restaurant/bar/ice cream parlor/liquor store) that was still open. Colorado tried to rain on our parade quite a bit, but as long as we stayed positive about everything it really wasn't that bad.
3. Endurance has everything to do with willpower.
The major thing I learned during the week is this one simple sentence: climbing mountains is hard. I'm not the most in-shape person out there; I spend my free time getting Chipotle delivered and eating it in bed. Hiking was extremely difficult, especially at the increased altitude. One thing that I noticed, however, was how my mindset affected me physically. As long as I pushed myself and told myself I could do it, I could tough it out. The second I lost focus, though, and had a glimmer of "can't" in the back of my mind, I immediately felt drained. I learned that my endurance and energy level had almost everything to do with how my body reacted to exhaustion.
4. Facing your fears really does help you conquer them.
Camping combines every single one of my worst fears: bugs, darkness and the unknown. Planning for the trip started to give me extreme anxiety, and there were many times thinking about it beforehand where I almost decided I just couldn't do it. I knew I would kick myself if I stayed behind just out of fear, so I sucked it up and told myself I would be fine...and you know what? I was. I faced my fears head on, and doing so really helped me to conquer them. I learned that I'm a lot tougher than I thought I was, and that I really can do anything I set my mind to.
5. Try new things with somebody you love, because it will only bring you closer.
"Try new things" is advice we've all heard throughout our lives. Trying something new opens you up to new experiences that you may not have faced in your life thus far. This is only enhanced when you try something new with someone you really care about. Sharing these new experiences together strengthens your bond and teaches you a lot about yourself as well as the other person. There's nothing quite like learning and growing with somebody you love, even better when it's in a foreign place. It builds communication, compromise and trust.
My trip to Colorado taught me so much more than I ever would have anticipated. I'm not sure if it was all the new experiences, or just Colorado itself, but I'm extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to take a nosedive into the unknown, especially with people I care about. This high-maintenance princess has now grown and evolved into a stronger, smarter, more open woman, all because of one camping trip (she still appreciates her eyeliner and bubble baths, though. That'll never change).
