Get Lost

When was the last time you got lost? For me it was yesterday I was driving…hmmm actually I was hightailing the hell out of Death Valley and its 120 F (47C) insane temperature up to Yosemite National Park. I had in the ultimate destination in my apple maps however I decided I liked the look of a blue blob on the screen – it was Lake Mono and I decided that I wanted to wade in said lake. Once I had eyes on the lake we went a little off road in he attempt to get closer. We took a dirt track to the left, sorry exactly to the right, I still haven't got my head around, left right thing on the American roads. The dirt track became quite sandy and as I was driving a sedan got a bit freaked out and reversed the whole way back out of the trail because there's no place for turn around. I probably wasn't that far from civilization but as far as we could tell, there was nobody else around. And after a day of very long driving, being low on fuel and I was a little bit concerned, we then took another trail, which again, looked like a bit of a dead end. And then eventually went back to the spot at which we turned, left lift down this trail and figured that was the wrong way. we took the right way down and ended up at the bank of Lake Mono.

This experience got me to thinking how completely structured our lives are – even when we are traveling, we rarely don’t know where we are - and how hard it is to actually get lost these days. For those of us who live in cities, we know exactly where we are, when the next bus is coming, where the nearest service station, coffee shop or supermarket is, or we can find it out. Everything is known, at our fingertips. But we've lost that sense of adventure, what it means to not know what's next. That feeling is thrilling it is a place where we need to rely on our senses and problem solving, we are have all the skills we need to get found and those skills are rarely called upon these days.

I encourage everyone to get a little lost, turn off, take the right turn where you don't know where it's gonna lead, what's the worst that can happen? A similar feeling struck me when I went trekking a few days earlier near St George I had another slight freakout as the car park in the state park was empty, this prompted me to send a message to my husband, which, by the way, is definitely a good movie should always let someone know where you're going. I told him what time I would be back and when he should send for help. Along the way I did get to a point where I did not know where the track should lead…I was lost…kinda. I could have easily just backtracked and it wouldn't have wouldn't have been a problem but as luck would have it, there was another group on the trail, and I ended up tagging along and taking the loop around with them. They had had an app, which told hem exactly where they were downloaded on their phone which is funny in the context of this blog because it's another way to show where we are. But it wasn't that long ago that if you didn't have a map you would get lost or would have you? Probably not as generally on most trails you, would have had other people on the trail with you, there's often somebody around who will get you out of trouble.

Allowing times where your brain needs to step up and problem solve for your own survival is healthy. It stretches your intellectual capacity with problems that are “real”. Let your brain figure out what are we going to do next? Where are we going, why are we going that way, what's the reasoning for that decision? Allowing yourself time to be completely present and for your mind to absorb the things it usually filters out because it doesn’t need to worry about it will expand your cognitive ability and problem solving skills. Getting lost feels adventurous, it gets your neurotransmitters picking up on new stimuli and for some of us it is learning of honing skills that have not been used for a long time. Most importantly it puts us in a situation that is not comfortable for us. Siting in discomfort is great for those of us that are trying to live a life alcohol-free. We are conditioned to turning to alcohol when we feel uncomfortable so getting lost can begin wiring some different neural pathways to support our new lifestyle.