Four years ago I woke up at sunrise to the sound of morning birds. Inhaled fresh pine, unzipped my tent, and felt cold wind nip my cheeks as I gazed upon three sentry peaks encompassing the valley I camped in.
The following days I would hike on trails that would make my legs collapse and challenge me in ways I didn’t think was possible. Through the sweat and grime, I felt at peace, in a way I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
I became an entity of movement, at home in an ancient forest, and far away from the demands of the modern-day nightmare I was actually trapped in.
I could go on about my past leading me to that moment of freedom, but it’s a familiar setting that is easier to imagine than dwell on. Just picture soul-sucking working and living conditions, in a crumbling relationship and experiencing a magnitude of loss.
But for that brief time in the wild California landscape, I became one of the many small quiet creatures, traversing between the trees and roots.
And it was actually liberating.
Liberating can be used to describe a temporary moment of relief, like when one goes on vacation and comes back to their daily lives feeling rejuvenated. Almost like thermodynamics; when pent-up hot air moves to a less pressurized and cooler environment until it’s reached equilibrium.
But in my context, I mean something like entropy; a state of stable normalcy cascading into a state of chaos and undoing in the most beautiful way.
I mean liberating: as is in the girl who went into those woods never came back.
I haven’t looked back since. That moment sparked a movement in me to change everything I could to reflect that natural state of feeling home and wild. Part of that includes my almost obsessive tendency to be in wilderness and understand nature.
It also fostered a sense of being awake and present in my life. It made me fall in love with words like: unraveling, unfolding, evolving.
About the Blogger: Hi I’m Elura! I’m an avid creator and nature enthusiast in San Diego, and a professional artist.