Envisioning life on a trail
It happened on May 26, 2019, while visiting Sleeping Bear sand dunes with my friends Kevin, Jeff and Mike. We were getting bored staying home every weekend. We had spent the entire winter watching movies and watching Game Of Thrones from the beginning. It was routine life for us, staying indoors. Now that winter has come to an end, it is raining often. After all, it is Michigan, a beautiful spring with unpredictable weather. I do love living in Michigan, as it always reminds me of the uncertain life we lead in the US, while working for certainty and ambition.
On Sunday, we made plans to visit Sleeping Bear sand dunes. I had never been to this place before. I did visit Silver Lakes sand dunes in the past, where my friends and I enjoyed ATV rides on the sand dunes. I remember some of my friends mentioning that Sleeping Bear sand dunes was a long, tiring trail to the sea on sand dunes. We didn’t inquire much about the place, as we were desperate to go somewhere to spend time together.
It was a four hour drive from where we live. We started our journey around 11:00 am. Lucky for us, it was a sunny day. On our drive, it was raining in some places, but upon reaching Sleeping Bear, the sun was beating down.
When we arrived, we saw that it was a hill of sand. Most people were climbing the hill with their bare feet. We saw some people who were leaving to go home.
The four of us refreshed ourselves to start the hike. We started walking barefoot, carrying our footwear in our hands.
Walking on the sand was nice. As we stepped on the sand, our feet went inside the sand. We could feel small rocks touching our feet. We started the journey cracking jokes with each other, laughing, and pushing each other on the sand. We were not thinking about what others thought about us. There were many people who were walking along with us. We were walking slowly, enjoying the walk on the sand as we climbed up the hill. As we walked up the hill, we were getting tired, as this strenuous activity was unusual for us. Trekking uphill was a hard job. We continued slowly, taking deep breaths.
The initial hill was steep, and the sun was beating down at the top. Jeff and Mike were walking fast and were fifteen feet ahead of us. Myself and Kevin were walking slowly, taking breaks in between.
Kevin was breathing heavily, as it was too tough for him to hike. He was tall and heavy. He often smokes and drinks alcohol. He relaxed for a few minutes and started hiking again. I was accompanying Kevin, Jeff and Mike were walking ahead of us. We suggested that they go ahead of us, as we had decided to walk slowly and take breaks.
Kevin and myself walked up the hill for a few more minutes, then Kevin was down again. We took a short break before climbing again. We made it successfully up the hill, Kevin was down again. We saw there was another short bump ahead a little far way, where we saw Jeff and Mike standing, waving at us to come. Kevin made up his mind that he could not make it to the next level. He gave up and encouraged us to continue the trail. He said he would rest for a bit then go back to the car. I was worried about seeing him breathing heavily. I faced a dilemma on what to do. Should I stay back with Kevin or move forward? I waited a little to see if Kevin would feel better. He was recovering and he told me to continue the trail. I asked if he wanted to walk slowly along the trail with me or if he would rather go back and rest in the car. I told him to drive around and explore the local area until we come back.
I continued the trail, walking towards Jeff and Mike to reach them. The trail was a little downhill and then proceeded to be uphill until I reached Mike. Mike suggested taking an alternative path to avoid the uphill. I felt relieved. I walked slowly, thinking the point Mike was standing at was the end of the destination. Upon meeting Mike and Jeff, to my surprise, the trail went downhill followed by uphill at the far end. We thought maybe that would be the end of the trail and we would see the sea.
I told them about Kevin and we started walking down the hill. We could see people struggling to walk on the trail and we saw people heading back. We saw a couple who were both walking slowly. They looked very tired and sweaty, hoping to reach the destination soon. Maybe they were also thinking that the next landmark was the destination like us.
Walking on the downhill parts was fun. It was sandy with footprints of many people who had previously walked the trail. It was a slope going down the hill. Running on the slope and chasing each other was fun and enjoyable. As we got to the bottom of the hill, the trail went flat and then uphill again. After walking for almost one hour in the hot sun, our clothes were wet with sweat. We walked slowly to reach the top of the hill.
Upon reaching the top of the hill, to our surprise, there was another downhill and flat trail. We asked a few people who were returning back if they knew the distance to the destination. One person said it took an hour to travel from the place we were standing and said that it is worth reaching the destination. The other woman said that it’s pretty over there. Jeff and Mike made up their mind to not go further because it was just water up ahead.
I wanted to continue, as we had traveled all they from Detroit, and we had already made it halfway. A few people said it was pretty and worth reaching the destination. I love enjoying nature’s beauty and wanted to see the beauty at the destination.
Jeff and Mike were standing and considering whether they should keep moving forward or go back. I told them I was continuing the trail and started walking. I had fun running down the hill. When I reached the bottom, I turned back to see Jeff and Mike still standing and considering whether or not they should return back. I ignored them and continued my journey.
It was a flat path. After the downhill, there was a small knoll and then the path went uphill. I was walking and I did not see any people for a bit. I was wondering if I had made the wrong decision to continue without my friends. I decided that I had already walked half a mile, so I made up my mind to continue.
Once I had reached the top of the knoll, I could see a group of girls standing on the trail having a conversation. I noticed they were commenting on a girl in their group. The girl was sitting away from the group. As I passed them, there was a man coming towards the group of girls. I guessed that he was their caretaker. He was returning from the sea. It looked like the group of girls were family friends.
I felt nostalgic thinking of field trips in primary school. It used to be me with my group of friends, making fun of the odd man out. Even though many years have passed since the schooling days, kids behave the same in the next generations.
As I was walking, I could see a father with two kids on the way. They were stopping frequently, since the kids were tired. The father was motivating the kids to walk slowly by having water. The destination was near, he told them. He described to them how fun it would be to reach the destination and play in the water and on the sand.
I passed them and continued my walk, when this came to my mind: the journey on the sand dunes is similar to the lives of each of us.
We each begin life as an infant, completely dependent on others. We are directed, nurtured, and sustained by others. A few months after our birth we learn to crawl, we gradually learn to walk, and by listening to others we learn to talk. Once we’re good at talking, we are put in school. In kindergarten, school is fun because every day we spend time with many kids. Life continues on slowly. As we pass through each grade, we mature. Day to day, activities fill our time. We begin to have less and less time to spend with friends and more time to spend on studying and doing homework. Some of our friends will not continue with us in the next grade as they may move out to different schools at different locations.
This experience is comparable to the initial start of our journey. Walking on the sand felt nice. As we stepped on the sand, our feet were engulfed in sand. We pushed each other on the sand, not minding what others thought about us. There were many people who were walking along with us. We walked slowly, enjoying walking on the sand. Climbing up the hill, we were getting tired, as this rigorous activity was unusual for us. Trekking uphill was tough. We continued on slowly, taking deep breaths. One of my friends gave up, claiming he could not continue further. After the rest of us continued, two other friends also gave up. They anticipated it to not be worth walking for that long to reach the destination. Relating this to our lives, when we go to high school, some of our friends who were with us since kindergarten leave us. Once we complete high school, our friends all take up different courses related to their interests. As we start our undergrad courses, we make new friends with new, exciting people whom we’ve never met before. We are surrounded by people completing and same courses with similar attitudes. During this time, we may wonder if we made the right decision to take the courses we chose. We may find college courses tough. We see our friends who took other career paths, who appear to be happy and appear to have made the right decision.
Without thinking about it too hard, we decide to complete the coursework. We are motivated by our peers in our courses. Attending college is another uphill. When we reach the top of the hill, we walk over small bumps. After we finish college, we go downhill. This is fun. Upon the successful completion of our courses, we do some traveling and prepare to get a job.
When we start a job, we meet new people again. We may be unlucky and not have our undergrad friends around. Most of our friends leave us to pursue their own ambitions, passions etc. We feel alone. Sometimes, we miss our college life. However, we have to get used to the new work lifestyle. We anticipate that since we acquired a job, life will go smoothly. Instead, we continue to have challenges. Again, we experience an uphill and bumps on our journey. Life is not a smooth path until we reach the destination. We meet new people. Sometimes we run into our childhood friends. Our life continues to be bumpy. Once we pass a bump, we go downhill, which is fun.
On the trail, we encountered new people who were taking a break. We sat next to them to have a short break to relax. We initiated a conversation with them on some topic. We shared our views with each other. It was really interesting to learn about different points of view. The conversation may left us wondering why we hadn’t thought that way. We liked what they had to say. We covered more topics as we continued the journey together. This is similar to how in our life we meet new people, we like their thoughts, interests, and we keep them in our life.
We might go on to have kids. We nurture them, play with them, and work for them. Kids grow up, get busy with school, start their own lives, and leave us alone.
Walking along the trail, we became tired. We took a short break and sat near the path. We felt relaxed. Our sweat dried after taking a break. The trek made us feel satisfied. We reflected on the journey thus far. Initially, we thought we would never make it. We were worried about the journey. This is similar to life in general where sometimes we are worried or uncertain about the future. However, life is simple. We need to walk on the path that has come our way and never give up until we reach the destination. We can take breaks intermittently to relax and feel energized by past achievements. Life is easy when you go on the path taken by many people, but taking the path less traveled by many brings the excitement of inventing something new. Although we will be lonely on the journey and the path is tough, there is more excitement on the path less traveled people and you reap more benefits.
When I saw the water, I was satisfied that I was about to reach the destination. My body was exhausted. My legs ached. I could feel the freedom of reaching the destination, but my body was so tired. I looked around at the people surrounding me. Some of them looked really excited about reaching the destination and are soaking up the freedom. I wondered if they felt their legs aching. Perhaps they work out daily and stay active. It got me thinking that a person’s first responsibility is to keep their body active and energetic by working out daily.
We continue our life. Life is routine with small bumps along the way. As we experience a bump and continue on, we are tired. We have low energy. Most of the people we moved through life with are not around anymore. When we reach the destination, it is calm and peaceful. We enjoy the peace and serenity. It’s similar to reaching the destination on our walk, the beach. We feel nostalgic about our life journey. After all of our life experiences, we feel confident. No matter what life path you take, the pain is the same. We all feel the dilemma of taking the path we need to work hard and be successful in order to reach the destination.
Reflecting on our life, we question why we made the choices we did, think about our achievements, we think about our regrets, and wish we did more. The thoughts keep bombarding us. We are nearing the end of our life. There were many ups and downs on our way. We had all taken different paths. We have met many people in our life on our way to our destination. On each uphill, our pals leave us behind to pursue a different path. Life is all about the uphills, the downhills, the small bumps, and the flat paths of routine life. Although we have taken different paths to reach the destination, the destination is the same for everyone. Shredding the thoughts, we need to enjoy the peacefulness. What I was anticipating to be a long, tiring trail to the sea turned into a time to contemplate life and compare the specific experience to life in general.
Thanks for taking time to read, Hope you enjoyed! Clap and comment to spread the enjoyment across. BTW this is my first article published, My work was encouraged, reviewed by my friends Jane Nelson. Loads of Thanks to her.
