Get out into nature. Take a hike. Don't do it for the exercise: do it for the view, do it for the feeling. It doesn't matter if you're climbing Mount Everest or walking for a few minutes in the woods. It's worth it, more than worth it. I've been questioning a lot lately, and overwhelmed with school work and extracurricular organizations. I was debating on dropping something. Do I leave my sorority? Drop my internship? Change my major? And then my family dragged me into nature.
I stood 260 feet below the Earth's crust. I stood 3,680 feet closer to Heaven. Within a matter of seconds, everything that was weighing on my shoulders disappeared. As the people around me stood capturing the underground caverns and flashes went off, I stood in awe. Suddenly everything that was worrying me seemed minuscule. The caverns I stood in took millions of years to look the way they do today. The mountain I stood on top of took over one billion years to stand as tall as it does today... And I was stressing the next three and a quarter years of my life.
Nature puts things into perspective. Years from now, when you look back on college or whatever it is that you're fretting over, you aren't going to think about the nights you sat up crying because you have three papers due, a test, volunteer work, and are planning a social event all in one day. You're going to look back on the end results: the A's you received on those papers and that test, the service you gave to your community, and the fun you had at that social event. When we stand looking at mountains or stalagmites and stalactites in caves, we don't think about the natural disasters and devastation that occurred to make these formations; we think about their beauty.
I stood 260 feet below the Earth's crust, and I realized that my existence in this world is microscopic. I stood 3,680 feet closer to Heaven, and I realized that my existence in this world can be astronomic. Generations from now people won't remember the blades of grass or mounds of sand of our time; they will remember the Mount Everests, the Grand Canyons, and the Black Seas -- people like Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and William Shakespeare. Nature made me realize this.
It's easy to get caught up in the hubbub of life. It's easy to lose sight of why we're working towards our goals. It's easy to forget. Nature is an amazing escape from our chaotic lives, and a much needed reminder of why we matter. This weekend I woke up before the sun. This weekend I got on my bike and rode through the woods. This weekend I watched the sunrise for the first time in my adult life. This weekend I sat in the silence of nature, and let it remind me of who I am.
So get out there. Wake up before the sun. Take a hike. Enjoy nature.
