A number of recent IRL conversations revealed that a lot of people would not opt to join me for a future Boundary Waters camping and canoeing-style trip.
I mean, I get it. Roughing it; hunting and gathering it; off the grid-ing it might not sound like your cup of tea.
But here’s what getting outside your comfort zone does—it shows you that you can do hard things. Even when—perhaps especially when—you didn’t know you signed up for said hard things (indeed, overcoming ignorance is a hard thing in and of itself).
You can do the hard things you’ve told yourself you can’t.
In fact, you probably do hard things all the time. Things you may take for granted because they’re just part of your day. Your regular ol’ obligation might be someone’s impossible.
Some days I find it impossible to write (that’s how I know it’s time to take a break). Other days, it’s the routine tasks (meal planning; cooking dinner; taking my makeup off before I go to bed—anyone else feel me on this one?) that feel like the hardest things.
Hard things are myriad in scope and often arbitrary by nature. And at the base of the mountain, the task ahead can often feel impossible. But at the summit, you realize you were always capable of the climb—and that you could do it again if you had to.
You were always capable of the climb.
Hard things—the ones we sign up for and the ones we don’t—will always exist. We’re not alone in that. So, let’s keep an eye out for those who might need a nudge doing the things that scare them.
You never know who you might inspire IRL.
Supplemental reading: My Boundary Waters-inspired pieces: Expect Jumanji and There’s a canoe above your head (ICYMI).