A Rich Life

Bartending got me to thinking about plants. Not just plants, but chemistry. It sparked and created a flame in a deep and unyielding part of me and my love of life, which is the magic of nature.

I've been watching that show, Alone. I think it's one of my favorite shows. It is because it does a few things particularly well. One, it shows you how people rationalize quitting. I'm a runner, and I'm very familiar with the dialogue that enters the mind once fatigue sets in. I used to have a mantra while running: "It hurts, I'm sick, I don't need to do this, I shouldn't do it". I adopted that because it was a particular string of words that came out of my mouth when I was on mile 2.5 of a 6-mile endurance run early in my running tenure. And, in fact, I was sick, very sick, and it was cold and crumby outside, and no one was out. But I finished, and I kept up a record-setting pace for me at the time, which was 6 consecutive 7-minute miles. I learned on a lot on that run, and it really stuck with me.

We rationalize quitting. We rarely ever just quit. We did well, well enough. We should be careful with our health. We have other things to do. It hurts, it just hurts. We don't need to be doing it. These are what quitting actually sounds like. And yeah, I like watching people quit in Alone because it keeps my ears sharp to the sound of quitting, which is the enemy.

The exact opposite is also true in Alone. You see people continuing against many odds. You see them correctly identify the enemy in any situation, which is the inner mind. You are not competing with other people - you are competing with yourself. You see that the number one killer is distraction. Family, a happy moment, and fear are distractions. And it's in those distractions that people lose a ferro rod, or lose confidence, or start contemplating the worst outcomes. The fact is that as soon as those contestants start, they should be prepared to start a new life away from their previous life, to settle in for many seasons, and think about how they will leverage their time there to more opportunities.

And then there's the simple enjoyment of survival in harsh conditions, using knowledge of the environment. Some contestants correctly identify that it's not a matter of "beating" nature, but rather a matter of understanding nature. Once you understand it, you can start working with it, in it, and alongside it, and in some cases despite it.

Survival, in general, I love. It's ingenious. If you're a hacker, or a tinkerer, or generally a tactical person, it's a lovely thing. Because constantly you see people going, "now this isn't really a thing you do, but in this case you can if only you do this odd thing". And that's what allows some people to build a fire in the pouring rain, stay warm, and even happy.

Watching the show makes me long, however. Makes me long to identify plants. It makes me long to know how to fillet a fish. It makes me long to know how to field dress a dear. It makes me long for how to season a piece of meat when I have no salt and no salt water. It makes me long for how to build a bow, and an arrow, and lures. And how to field dress a wound. And how to weave a net, and identify a wildlife trail, and set a snare. There is so much we take for granted. And beyond survival it makes me long to know my culture more by heart. Thoreau, Shakespeare, Poe. There's so much wisdom and tenacity in words. When I see a contestant speak an old familiar line, it's like he's taking a sip of medicine. I'm reminded of the Shawshank Redemption, when Andy locks himself in the warden's office and plays the opera, because they can't take that from you. No one can take it from you, it's hope.

I look outside and I see the season changing. The days are getting longer. Soon, it will stop being very cold and start being only a little cold. And plants will be able to grow and such and such. I believe my mission is clear, which is to find health in exercise and nutrition, to learn about the world around me, to understand nature and build skills in understanding it further and surviving within it, and to spend more time in it. I want to be a guy who has para-cord for shoelaces and can improvise a harness off of a building. Who has techniques to stay calm in a storm, to love deeply and truly and yet not be distracted by it, and pulled from the moment by it. Nature and its cycles are my religion, and I want to worship them and give myself to them.

I think I'm going to spend the next few months studying, exercising, and saving. Then, once summer hits, I'm going to buy a piece of land somewhere within a reasonable distance from New York and go practice applying all those skills. I'm particularly excited about bow hunting, make reels, lures, and maybe even making some rope!

Now, not to overload myself, but I believe part of a well-rounded education generally also includes self-defense. I don't foresee ever needing to force a black bear into submission, but I could see some practical hand-to-hand skills coming in handy here in New York, probably more so than knot-tying in most cases. Luckily I live right around the corner from a training gym, so I believe I'll add that to my regimen.

Finally, I recently started learning how to read/understand Spanish (but not quite speak it yet). I want to finish that skill set so I can get it under my belt and start adding on more.