Nature has always been a place of social gathering for me growing up. As a child and teen, I would meet up with family and friends to go trekking across grand expanses of Michigan’s trails and shorelines, using the outdoors as an excuse to be outside with people I enjoyed. While the grandeur of lake Michigan’s sand dunes, the cool quiet of Ludington State Park, and the immeasurable colors of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was not lost on me, these views were not my primary focus. I don’t think I was able to fully take everything in because my focus was on the people, not the scenery.
However, as I’ve grown and changed, opening myself up to being alone with my thoughts and the sheer presence of the outdoors has become possible and necessary. I recently went out on Squam Lake in a kayak (when the weather was still 50 degrees and sunny) and found a beaver dam. Water was cascading over the edges, creating little eddies and whirls across the base. The light rushing of water combined with the calls of red winged blackbirds and the splashes from turtles being flushed off their sunny perches created a symphony. If I had not been alone, being immersed in the moment would not have been possible. My attention would have been split between the human desire to engage and the peaceful need to just BE.
Being alone with your thoughts can be scary or boring or stressful, knowing you have other pressing matter to attend to, but I wouldn’t trade that moment of just being for anything.
Em is serving at the Squam Lakes Association as a Trails and Access Assistant. Her favorite sweet treat? Gingersnaps! Learn more about Em here.