Live Uncomfortably

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My journey into the Yosemite wilderness has ended prematurely; with good reason of course. I was in fact, too uncomfortable to continue. I had not slept more than an hour or two in the past 8 nights. And, during these restless nights, my freezing toes and stiff back constantly reminded me of the fact that I could not sleep. This trip was the very definition of uncomfortable living.

I am fully aware that some might view leaving the wilderness earlier than expected as a defeat of the spirit of this blog. I say nay to the nay-sayers for calculated reasons - I’ve had enough time, especially at night, to find justice for my departure.

Over the past 6 months, I’ve begun to truly appreciate the knowledge that nearly everything in my life is a luxury. My life is cake and ice-cream in the eyes of the majority of people on this earth. Further, my life is more comfortable than 99.99% of humans who have inhabited the earth ever. In comparison to all but a select few, I am living like a rockstar.

So, you might wonder, why I exited the forest almost as quickly as I entered it. If I understand that most things are luxuries and wholly unnecessary to sustain life, then two weeks of relative suffering should be relatively easy. I wasn’t horribly miserable, but I was uncomfortable to the point of not being able to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.

The point of the trip was to live in nature without most of the comforts of home. At the same time, I wanted to be able to read and write (for this blog especially). However, I was not capable of completing these apparently simple tasks. I was too busy surviving and battling the elements and myself, to be concerned with the more scholarly pursuits. I was living without creature comforts - and then some.

I believe that there is a threshold of comfort that must exist, in order for modern and intelligent thought to flourish. People cannot be concerned with critical and scholarly analysis of life or otherwise when they are too wrapped up in living and surviving that life. I could not fathom writing articles while I struggled with a heavy backpack during the day and a heavier cold during the night. Therefore, I decided that it was time to make my way back into the civilized world.

The threshold I mention is, of course, extremely relative to the person. My threshold has been set much lower due to my posh lifestyle up to this point. Activities that are thought of as daily life for some are actually quite difficult for me to endure. American and especially Southern Californian living has made me rather soft. For example, the cold weather I experienced and fought against, would have been considered a slight chill in the eyes of most Russians, and even for many Northern Californians.

The trip was very successful in establishing my current threshold. I have a better idea of what is essential to me right now. I know what ‘things’ I need to simply live versus what I need to live and maintain my desired level of mental capabilities. I also am aware that the minimum threshold can be changed over time. With more exposure to simple living such as backpacking adventures, ones capacity to sustain increases. On my next journey into the wilderness I will be better prepared mentally to deal with the hardships.

If anything, this trip will serve as a reminder that my life is good. I’m so lucky and it’s medicine for my soul to be made more aware of it. It’s a blessing to even have clean and treated water readily available. In the wilderness, clean water is like gold. You use, abuse, and economize every last drop because it’s a scarce and limited commodity. The next time I’m feeling low or thinking my plot in life isn’t quite acceptable, I’ll know it’s time for a trip into the wild. Living without luxuries for awhile makes them that much sweeter to come back to.

Author’s Notes: In the next couple of installments I’ll talk about wilderness gear, list items I believe to be essential (with my limited threshold in mind), and share some specific experiences from the trip.