Getting lost can be one of the most uncomfortable, if not utterly terrifying, situations we can find ourselves in. In addition, have you ever been told to "get lost"? You feel useless and undesirable. All figurative meanings of getting lost aside, the lack of control, fear, or even embarrassment you experience while being lost sit in your stomach like cement; a constant, cumbersome reminder.
Yet, what if getting lost isn’t always the worst thing? I apologize for the horrible cliché, but what if in getting lost you find something? Serendipity. One Sunday a couple of friends and I decided to make the 25 minute drive to Croft State Park, one of the largest state parks in South Carolina, to hike some of the trails. We headed into this adventure, at 12:30, planning on a 1.5 mile hike, but Mother Nature or some other outside force had other plans.
It being our first time in the park, we had no knowledge of the trails and only had a poorly designed trail map as our guide. At 7:15, and nearly 20 miles later, we crawled out of the forest.
We were certainly lost, and there were some moments when we felt out of control and panic began to creep in as well, but the experience as a whole, getting lost in the woods with two of my best friends, was the most fun I have had in an incredibly long time.
We sang songs, joked around, took pictures, rested by streams, and talked about what we were going to eat when we finally got out of the woods. We just thoroughly enjoyed a Sunday that in no way went as we had planned. We got lost in the woods, but we found a deeper and more meaningful bond between the three of us, one that wasn’t there before.
So, I encourage you to get lost from time to time. Grab a group of and go for a walk or perhaps a drive (if you aren’t worried about gas. Who knows, maybe you’ll decide to find a nice spot to sit outside and get lost in your thoughts instead. As the late, great Henry David Thoreau once said, “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves." Get lost, you never know what you’ll find.
