In the last two days, I've done more outside activity than I have in about the last... season. I owe it partly to the fact that I've recently transferred to Boston University, and being in a city offers fewer opportunities for outdoorsy action. In fact, I feel as if I'm trying to stay outside as little as possible, running from my apartment to the bus - scorning the bus if it's not pulling up just as I arrive - and hustling from the bus to my class, only getting off at the closest possible stop. But I can't blame my new environment for everything - I'm also a lazy summabitch when it gets cold out. So shoot me.
Anyways, back to embracing the outdoors. So yesterday, with several of my good friends, I hiked to the (near)top of one of Bear Mountain's eleven peaks (thank you Wikipedia) at Bear Mountain in New York. Today, I tackled yet another peak (this time with my girlfriend), from which I could see the peak I had bested yesterday, filling me with an enormous sense of pleasure and fulfillment (the rest of you peaks... well you just wait till Spring Break). The reason it felt so good was not simply because I was breathing fresh air and connecting with nature - which!, I learned from the Na'vi of Pandora, could bring great enlightenment and otherworldly pleasure - but also because I was totally unburdened by the technology that I encounter all day, every day(other than my silenced cell phone. I've read "Between A Rock and Hard Place" and seen many a documentary telling stories of stranded hikers/climbers, and I don't care to end up the subject of one of those harrowing survivor - or not-survivor - stories). Other than that though, I was free from the enormous stress that being connected to so many networks and notification systems and responsibilities and reminders brings to my - and undoubtedly, your - life.
Now I just got out of the shower, during which I got to thinking about my little escapades these past two days. Why were they so marvelous? Why did they feel - to my body, to my mind, to my senses - absolutely novel? Well, probably for the same reason I could only come up with the answer while I was in the shower: I was totally disconnected from technology. Which revealed to me yet another reason for something I experience everyday, and that's how I think more lucidly while showering and, frankly, while taking a shit. I, being the very well-mannered person that I am, don't talk on the phone while I crap, don't text while I drop a deuce, instead opting for a book, newspaper, or most often my mind. I used to do SAT sets while I crapped and always felt that I did a better job than when I was sitting in my kitchen next to my green-lit oven timer. I've always prolonged those technology-free interludes of my day, often prompting my mom and dad to ask me if my stomach feels alright (sometimes it really doesn't XD) or to tell me not to waste water. I always thought I just did it because I liked to take my time, but I think it gives us a unique opportunity to take a break from the electronically and informationally charged qualities of our lives, to reflect on or think about whatever the hell we want. It feels like freedom. It's a freedom you can get from taking a hike, taking a shower, or taking a shit. I like that. I gotta remind myself to do that more often (the former, of course).
