One of the things that I've realized in the recent past is that along becoming afraid of many things, I'd started to feel weak. I suppose it's easy to feel that way when you've moved to a new place, don't know anyone, and have a job that really tests your limits.
Since August, I've taken on the desert lifestyle, began living alone for the first time in my life, and very quickly sank into a depression that was likely brought on by my job. That depression took the zest out of my life. The things I usually enjoyed couldn't hold my interest. All I wanted to do was sleep and that was the one thing that I could almost never do. This wasn't helped by the fact that SB was finishing up grad school and spent his weekends doing homework. Any time I felt adventurous, he couldn't accompany me and I didn't want to be all alone in the desert, so I'd just stay at home and wallow.
Once I hurdled my fear of long-distance driving, things got a bit better. I'd regained some freedom and my mind started to feel stronger. When SB finished school, we started to re-gain our joint adventurousness and started visiting all sorts of National Parks (stay tuned for more pics!). Now that my brain is back on track, I've found that making my body strong is one of my favourite things.
Through college, despite knee injuries, I was incredibly active. In Germany, teaching dance kept me constantly moving and I always felt in shape. During my darker days this year, I started to notice that my body had deteriorated along with my mind and now that I'm back, I am ready to rebuild myself!
These desert hikes have done wonders for both body and soul. Even when all I've done is scramble up a little hill, I feel strong. It's my favourite feeling.
What do you do to feel strong?
... and on a side note, these photos are from Artist's Palette in Death Valley National Park. The rocks are super colorful due to chemical reactions after volcanic eruptions. I've heard that the mountains look even cooler at sunset, but I was totally happy with the views and snaps that we got. This place was super fun to hike around in and if the weather isn't over 90, I'd highly recommend that you spend a few hours playing on the colorful mountains here!
cool plas as I see
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