In class of late we have been discussing life events and the impact they have on our life. A life event such as a promotion or bereavement can have a significant effect on us. In this post, I'd like to examine a life event which did not change me.
Several years ago, when I was still a Boy Scout, I had arranged to go on a hiking trip with my troop to Philmont, New Mexico. The trip would be over the course of two weeks and we would be hiking around a hundred miles. I had never been one for camping trips, and I certainly wasn't one for it then. Yet feeling as though I couldn't say no, I went on it.
The work was grueling. We carried 50+ pound bags on our backs hiking up and down steep terrain, from hard rocks to rain-slick slopes. The days were exhausting, and sleep was a welcome reprieve. Along with the blazing insect-filled sun, one day heavy rains came in, turning the trail to a torrent. And we had to set up camp in that weather. Needless to say, sleep was a VERY welcome reprieve that night. We ate mostly freeze-dried foods and campfire cookings. For the majority of the trip I was with only the members of my troop, and no one else.
It seemed to produce a change in me. It's hard to describe now, but at the time I felt stronger, more independent. At home I would slack off a lot. As I went through the grueling hikes I became inspired to work harder, as hard as I worked on the trail. I made plans for when I got home, to spend hours in the library, start searching for jobs, write way more than I was. I had it all planned out. It felt like when I got home, things would be really different.
And then, two days after I came back, things were as they were beforehand. I was back to the same habits and the same slacking as before I had left. And I felt no compunction to go on another hike (and still don't).
I was gone for two weeks. The environment was a radical shift from what I was familiar with. Yet that was not enough. The time was too short, and it was too easy for me to slip back into my old routines. Perhaps if I were in such an environment longer, quite a bit longer, things might have changed. I might have formed habits that would have stayed with me longer than two days. Yet in the end, that hiking trip was only an adaptation to an unfamiliar circumstance. Once the circumstances normalized, I no longer had a need to adapt, and so I didn't change.
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