Category: Doing things for yourself and being alone
"[C]ontent will not make us content. (Talking about how there's too much meaningless content online, and the ever-present urge to consume it all won't make us content, aka happy. I need to work on this one!)" — Katie Arnold Content, Work in Process
"It would be so much easier to stay home now, but then I wouldn’t find out what happens next." — Katie Arnold Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World
"I know how seductive holding on to suffering can be because I’ve done it. In many ways it feels safe. I know how powerful the identity of brokenness can be and I have many versions of this story." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"If we stay in the story too long, it becomes a cage." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"We each have our own true way. We can imitate or be inspired, but we can only really ever be ourselves." — Katie Arnold Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World
"It’s strange how we miss things the most just as they’re about to end." — Katie Arnold Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World
"Trying to find happiness in “having” or in someone else’s version of it is like chasing the horizon: you might end up where you were looking, but you’ll never recognize it because your eyes are still fixed outward." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"Imagining a feeling of happiness, especially during meditation, starts to shape our lives toward it despite no external factors changing at all." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"Relentlessly pursuing happiness can subconsciously reinforce discontent because the story we’re telling ourselves is that we aren’t happy." — Cory Richards The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
"Maybe it’s the sun’s first light on these ancient cliffs, or the heavy current of the river, the feeling that this place exists outside of human time. But here, I start to feel like myself again." — Hilary Oliver She Explores, Episode 3, "Being Here: How the Outdoors Make Us Feel"
"The journey you travel on your feet is less important than the distance you cover in your head." — Mishka Shubaly
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." — John Burroughs
"To pit oneself against the mountain is necessary for every climber: to pit oneself merely against other players, and make a race of it, is to reduce to the level of a game what is essentially an experience… the mere setting up of a record is of very minor importance. What he values is a task that, demanding of him all he has and is, absorbs and so releases him entirely." — Nan Shepherd The Living Mountain
"Don't get caught up in what others are doing—we all have our own paths, our own losses and wins. For me, curiosity and wonder are the driving forces. Curiosity is a powerful thing." — Jeremy Jones The Art of Shralpinism
"There’s always something to look at if you open your eyes." — 5th Doctor Doctor Who, "Kinda"
"I know that I could, under ordinary circumstances, accumulate wealth and obtain a fair position in society, and I am arrived at an age that requires that I should choose some definite course for life. … I brooded on the bread problem, so troublesome to wanderers, trying to believe that I might learn to live like the wild animals, gleaning nourishment here and there, sauntering and climbing in joyful independence of money or baggage. But I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news. It feels important to keep close to Nature’s heart and break clear away, once in awhile, and spend a week in the wild to Wash your spirit clean." — John Muir via Samuel Hall Young Alaska Days with John Muir
"You see, the thing is, I had every reason to stay. To trudge on at my “grown up” job, remain in the comfort of my home, enjoy the consolation that my friends are just a text away, and basking in the glory of exploring the Northwest wonderland. Then it began. It started out as a faint whisper—a fleeting thought. As time passed, the murmur grew to a soft voice. I could make out what it was saying, “dream, run, live, and never look back.” I tossed it a bit of attention, but decided to reduce the “thought” to an unrealistic, fanciful whim. One afternoon, my entire being was flooded by something similar to a thunderous roar. As it settled into a calm, I recognized it as the call I had ignored so many times before. “Come,” it said. I was overwhelmed with a sensation, a resolve— it’s the kind that everyone feels, but only a few dare to answer. It’s what makes us the “wild ones”. It’s the call of the wild and untamed—an invitation to live. … Some people are calling it a “mid-life crisis”. Others are referring to it as a “life-altering” experience, questioning “are you ready for something like this?” Fortunately, a lot of people are wonderfully supportive. Me? I’m just going through the motions. This whole escapade might seem outlandish, but it is anything but impossible. Call it what you want, but to me, this is the idea… the feeling… the calling… the ultimate adventure. We are the “wild ones”, and we say “yes, and amen” to every crazy invitation that life throws at us." — Lisa Dougherty Stay Wild Magazine, Spring 2015, "The Conscious Kind Project"
"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am—a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards." — Edward Abbey
"People often ask “Why?” and I wonder – why not? I’m not anyone special. I am just someone who believed in herself. Someone who would never have been able to spend the rest of my life standing still in one place, dreaming of being somewhere different, wondering if I was capable. I know the future me will never question why she did any of these things, she will just be glad she did." — Alex Mason Adventure Journal, "Getting Out to Get Out of a Stale Life"
"Your life’s work doesn’t have to be the same as your job. I learned the importance of embracing your passions in your free time." — Gale Straub She Explores, Episode 4, "Origin Story"
