Inspiration is one of those things we know we benefit from but often lack the (insert word that creates an obstacle that we don’t feel like climbing here) to seek out on a regular basis. For me, inspiration comes from doing things that allow me to connect with nature.
I live in a urban environment, which don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I have all the convenience of having everything linked to my phone. I get reception everywhere I live. I’m less than a $10 Uber or Lyft ride to the vast majority of the places I feel like going. It feeds my spontaneity, which is great.
But in the pursuit of balance, spending time in an environment where plants and animals dominate the space and I can see geographic features and exercise the knowledge I learned in that awesome class I took in college to identify different tree species and when I am quiet the sounds I hear are leaves rustling in the wind, my own breath, squirrels making that weird sound they make instead of the usual city sights of construction, traffic, concrete and the sounds of sirens from a fire truck, the train chugging along the tracks, the bass from the club that sits behind the apartment complex, the sound of car tires moving fast cross the pavement, an airplane overhead is greatly appreciated.
That said, getting up in the early morning isn’t really my cup of tea and much less on a Saturday morning. But there I was, getting my wake up call at 6 A.M. stumbling out of bed, still halfway drunk, putting on the clothes I had laid out for this hike while getting ready for work the day before, not really convinced I hadn’t put my pants on backwards but didn’t have time or energy to really care. Getting in the car, swooping through McDonald’s for a hot cup of coffee before hitting the road to Sawnee Mountain Preserve to hike to the Indian Seats to catch the sunrise.
We laughed at our unpreparedness realizing that we were going to be making this hike in the dark and none of us brought a flashlight. Fortunately, it was going to be a fairly short hike and phones these days have a flashlight function so we were able to manage not completely eating it as we tripped our way along the trail.
Our hike turned into a run as dawn started to break and the sun began flooding the sky with its warm gentle light. We no longer cared that we had less than 4 hours of sleep combined between the three of us, we were here and we were going to catch that sunrise!
I paused only briefly for this quick photo, you know, just in case I didn’t make it to the overlook at Indian Seats before the sun made it up above the horizon. My heart rate was up, I was sweating alcohol, I was out of breath and there was a photo op so, in my mind it was a win-win-win-win. Here’s the trophy photo from that moment:
Sawnee Mountain
Cumming, GA
We picked up the pace again, and took off up the mountain until we arrived at our destination. A beautiful overlook where you can see for miles and miles. As we took a seat and slowed our breathing we noticed the birds were starting to sing and as we looked down the cliff got butterflies in our bellies. We were giggling at the fact that we had managed to pull this off even though we weren’t prepared. We shared bright eyed “good morning’s” with the handful of others who made their way up to the Indian Seats.
Indian Seats
Sawnee Mountain
Cumming, GA
As the sun made its way into the sky we began our hike down the mountain high on endorphins making jokes about how we were glad that we had pulled this off. I am grateful to have shared this experience with two fun-loving highly driven women and I am looking forward to creating more moments like these.
Moral of the story: even when it’s easier to stay in bed or you don’t think you have time for that thing that leaves you with such a wonderful feeling of fulfillment and inspiration, set dates with folks who are going to prompt you to execute that idea you have and get out there! So often we get stuck in a cycle of comfort and we count out anything that interferes with that. Every now and then it feels good to plan something that breaks the regular routine of work, wine, sleep, repeat. I’ll run off of this jaunt through the woods that peaked with a sunrise and having an epic start to my morning and getting home by 930 in the morning on a Saturday and still having the rest of the day at my disposal, for a few weeks! I decided to make a post about it to remind myself later how much I enjoy things like this and how much I really do get out of it in hopes that I’ll do something else exciting and impulsive sooner than later!
Do more of the things that make you feel good
#treatyourself