The Wilderness Series: The Unknown

The Wilderness Series: The Unknown

What happens when you first come face to face with a challenge or a goal that you are unfamiliar with? Time seems to slow down as you move through the various procedures that lead to either set you up for success or failure. The unknown brings about an added sense of adrenaline along with a concentrated focus.

This challenge of conquering the unknown is quite an overwhelming task to take on. It takes minimal effort to get comfortable in the simple things that don’t necessarily challenge our status quo of regular everyday life.

One of the things that I most enjoy about exploring wild places is the fact that most things don’t happen twice. There is always an added element to every typical situation. You have to remain vigilant and on point as your surroundings are ever-changing. The days spent out in these places feel much longer because of this added focus. 

The challenge that hunting brings to these wild environments is very worthy whether you are familiar with the country or have never stepped foot in it. Honestly, the thought of just doing the same routine over and over and expecting the same mediocrity that many times follow with this type of lifestyle sounds like a waste.

The wild places are meant to push you. You are supposed to struggle and have second thoughts when you are pursuing something of great value. If you don’t have these types of pains and struggles, then you may want to sit down and reevaluate your current situation.

Heading off into the unknown brings about satisfaction in a person. No matter what circumstance you find yourself in knowing that you made that initial step means quite a bit. Now, the steps to follow are crucial on your path to an unknown situation.

There is short term satisfaction in knowing that you gave an effort in your field, but then due to underlying circumstances, your progress was stopped. When you go back and look at this memory, you will find regret in knowing that you gave up so early or that you gave up when an obstacle arrived. Pushing through these hardships that are most certainly to come on a difficult path is why you should take the path of resistance in the first place.

At the end of an excursion, many thoughts go through my head. Almost immediately, when I am back in the comfort of civilization, I begin to regret the decisions I made while out in the wilderness. Whether it was not checking a distance ridge or choosing sleep over further progress, many things seem uncomfortable in the moment but lead to regret when we look back and evaluate our decisions.

This thinking and mindset carries into everything we do in a day. Did we give our best effort? Did we use all of our available resources? Questions like this pop into our head with every little thing we do, and many times our lack of effort has us answering these questions in a negative light.

If we decide to embrace the fear of the unknown with an active, decision-making mindset, we can minimize the feelings of regret because of a lack of effort. The unknown is out there and is meant to be explored. Are you willing to go out and find it?