pcandmore.net

Yesterday I returned from what might be one of my most meaningful vacations that I had until this point. A friend and me went on a hiking trip of something like 90 kilometers over the span of three days until we arrived at a camping site next to a small river, where we then continued to live and sleep. This was a vacation that was neither very expensive nor luxurious or exotic. I had to fight the pain that was probably caused by my rather rough shoes, drank out of a river with a more-or-less trustworthy looking filter-straw bought off the internet and slept on the ground next to a bench.

This is definitely far from the most extreme things someone can experience and people have been through more, but this trip was still an example of very delayed gratification and forced me into both minimalism and a less sterile/hygienic lifestyle. I experienced companionship, did outdoor cooking with a pot over a campfire and had to protect my clothes and equipment from getting wet.

I don't know if I would do the same kind of activity again in a year, but it is definitely interesting to experience how different life can be from the way we are used to it. There was a time before things like electric washing machines, artificial light, modern medicine and so on. Here in the west, we live very domesticated lives where we go to work, go to the super market to get all sorts of things, let our electric appliances do half or more of the chores and waste the rest of our time in front of a screen. There is something really enticing to me about a more primitive and tribal, less uniformal way of life. Imagine living in a group of real men who all contribute to the common goals of the tribe, take responsibility and face the challenges of the current times together. We would not even have time for a lot of our first-world problems and would need to overcome the weakness that is enhanced by our postmodern lifestlyes.

The challenges that my friend and me went through are very symbolic. Even though we live such domesticated lives nowadays, the concepts of endurance, suffering through pain and the need to improvise are still in there today if you want to live your life in a more meaningful and rewarding way than the average western person. Maybe an experience like this would be beneficial to you aswell!