Nature Walk

Whether it was bravery or stupidity I decided to take my journey into nature on Sunday afternoon in the below freezing, bitter winter cold. I stood at the front of Schenley Park with two sweaters, a coat, thick tights and pants, socks, gloves, and finally boots. If I had to journey into nature during winter, I was going prepared. I walked deep into the park, away from the random jogger or dog walker passing me by. The more isolated I became as I walked deeper and deeper into the park the more rampant my thoughts became. I thought of adventurers who get lost in hiking in mountains. What would happen if I collapsed in the snow? Would anyone find me? Would I die over night? The more I thought of this the more I felt like I was going to pass out at any moment, not because I’m a maniac hypochondriac, but because unlike most people being cold makes me sleepy. While walking I thought of all the classes I struggled to stay awake in because the air conditioning was cranked too high. The more I thought of my unlikely death in Schenley Park, the heavier my eyelids became and suddenly I was tired. “Fight through it!” I thought. “You can’t fall asleep here, no one knows where you are and no one will find you.”

My thoughts became reflective as they often do when I have absolutely nothing else to do. My phone, ipod, and laptop were put away and I no friends talk to on this journey. I thought about
CMU and how much I hate it. Usually my days are full from 9am to 6 pm then from 9pm to midnight, leaving me little time for homework, naps, or my precious TV time. Not that I actually hate the school, I just hate the enormous portion of my life it consumes. It feels as if I have no life outside of this place. However, I put up with all of this because hopefully that one day it will all be worth it when I leave CMU thousands of dollars in debt but with prospects of an amazing life in sight. But still the thought of having to find a job less than a year from now and reviewing the starting salaries for English majors is depressing. His quote, “Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them” (7) stuck with me. I spend a great deal of my time working hard on things I do not want to do in the quite possibly vain hope that it will get me where I want to go. Maybe Thoreau was onto something living in the woods and escaping all real world responsibility. Considering that I am not one for nature there is no way I would ever even think of living in the woods for a year; the thought of camping outside for even one night terrifies me.


But my ever moving, non sequitur thoughts I drifted back to the thought of accidentally falling asleep and dying in the woods. I though about one of my younger brother’s favorite TV shows that I often watched with him Man vs. Wild. In which the show’s host Bear Grylls endures the world’s harshest conditions and show how he would survive them. Although I am positive he is flown by helicopter to the nearest hotel as soon as the sun goes down and the cameras turn off.