I yack all the time about getting out and exploring in recovery. “Hike,” I say with conviction. “Fill your hands with a camera and your head with passion for something rigorous.” Climb a mountain, snowshoe across an unmarred wilderness! Take the path less traveled by!
Adventuring Without Pepper Spray…
The photo above was taken when I ventured off the highway near Luther, Michigan and down a dirt track to a deserted farm. The farm was for sale according to a battered sign by the side of the road. It had clearly seen it’s heyday a few decades earlier. The house had settled into the nettles with a sigh. Spent looking wheat and goldenrod waved in barren fields.
The homestead had a photogenic, Ansel Adams bleakness. As if the hopes of the previous tenant had drifted out the windowless dormers and floated up to a periwinkle sky…
I parked and wandered around. The thought skittered across the back of my mind that I was without protection. If a panel van turned in the drive, my best defense would have been to lob Granny Smith apples. Or as it turns out, rub the perp with whatever poisonous plant I encountered on my walk. It has been driving me mad ever since my madcap diversion…
Here’s the Caveat…
It is unseemly for this paragon of recovery, to scratch my affected arm till it bleeds. (When exactly does the lotion my pharmacist recommended make a dent in the unbearable, burning, itchy mess that is my elbow?) Kim can attest to the fact, that in the old days we used to head off into the wilds on long hikes with no water, ID or sense. Hung-over and dehydrated, we plowed up Colorado mountains during moose calving season. We plodded across fields, surprising bulls or angry dogs. No pepper spray, first aid kits or cell phones.
I thought I had learned my lesson.
Anyway, I still say find a passion and get your heart pumping. It is good for your health and wellbeing and good for your recovery. Be curious and exploratory. But I keep forgetting to say, “Be careful out there. Buy a bear canister, an EpiPen and a book on poisonous (but pretty) plants.”
The world is your oyster now that you’re sober. Just make sure you’re not allergic to shell fish…
