|
|
Post by Lonewolf on Mar 12, 2016 16:06:27 GMT -8
Yet none of that would have led to expansion if there weren't others who were willing to pick up the herd and move at least a portion of it into new territory. Not all alone, because it's hard to reproduce that way There are places for both but the explorers would still have gone even if the herd didn't follow. While expansion requires a following herd, exploring doesn't require anything except a willingness to leave the herd and strike out alone.
|
|
geosp
Trail Wise!
Posts: 495 
|
Post by geosp on Mar 12, 2016 16:14:42 GMT -8
Most of my hikes are solo. Some of them for extended periods but I have never felt lonely. In fact I mainly relish the isolation and will usually tend to avoid others or head for locations where I will be alone. I think maybe Tipiwalter had a point when he mentioned having someone at home who cares about where you are and when you get back. I can easily 'live inside my head' and knowing I have company waiting back at home, being temporarily alone is not a problem. Maybe the physical act of 'being out there' (hiking, looking for water, camp sites etc) keeps the mind accompanied with goals and small achievements instead of people. As Rebecca commented, I have also found myself far lonlier after a solo hike when surrounded by strangers in some city away from 'home'. To that end, I think I'd feel lonely if my solo travelling wasn't 'hiking' but more conventional travelling using transport through populated areas.
I don't have a problem 'adjusting' when I get back. In fact one of the things I like about isolated hikes is that they make me appreciate what I do have at home. People and comforts!
|
|
|
|
Post by hikerjer on Mar 12, 2016 19:40:25 GMT -8
Good points about having a home to come back to. I think, as much as I love to roam, and I don't as much as I'd like, I still have to have a base to return to. To be on the road or trail indefinitely with no place to return to would be hard. I don't know how I'd handle that. That would be being alone and lonely.
I remember when I was a lot younger and hitchhiking across the country, I met a guy called Tennessee who was homeless by choice and just traveling the country, going nowhere in particular. Said he'd been on the road for nigh on 25 years and didn't think he would ever live any other way. Not for me, but he seemed happy.
|
|
rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,689 
|
Post by rebeccad on Mar 12, 2016 19:47:15 GMT -8
Jer, I think there are such people, not many, but some, who simply can't settle down and are only happy in roaming. I do wonder what happens to those when old age hits.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2016 20:15:29 GMT -8
I think "mental health" (since the topic includes that) requires a balance between time with people and time alone, between socialization and self-actualization. Most of us require both, but to our own degree. Some people may emphasize one over the other, but there is no easy formula to determine where each of us may find a suitable balance.
|
|
toejam
Trail Wise!
Hiking to raise awareness
Posts: 1,795
|
Post by toejam on Mar 13, 2016 7:26:05 GMT -8
To be great is to be misunderstood. Evidently society needs loners to misinterpret for its own purposes. I'm not sure this is what we are talking about, but it's one of the most entertaining of your ramblings I've read, Travis. it's just this... weird sense of emptiness when I experience something so amazing, and have to come back home to this dumb place where nobody really understands I think most of us experience this. I still have a bad attitude about work, waking to an alarm clock, shaving, and exercising at a gym lingering from my uncomfortable re-entry after a 3-week hike last summer. |
|
reuben
Trail Wise!
Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
Posts: 11,167
|
Post by reuben on Mar 13, 2016 7:30:18 GMT -8
To echo skchrip and toejam, when I come back from a long trip, home and work just don't seem real.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2016 7:53:08 GMT -8
To be great is to be misunderstood. Evidently society needs loners to misinterpret for its own purposes. I'm not sure this is what we are talking about, but it's one of the most entertaining of your ramblings I've read, Travis. Generally speaking, I don't concern myself with what you want to talk about. If the opening poster finds some interest in the response (and she indicates that she did) that's pretty much good enough for me. But you probably knew that, didn't you? |
|
reuben
Trail Wise!
Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
Posts: 11,167
|
Post by reuben on Mar 13, 2016 8:02:51 GMT -8
Generally speaking, I don't concern myself with what you want to talk about. Yeah, we know.  |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2016 8:22:27 GMT -8
Generally speaking, I don't concern myself with what you want to talk about. If the opening poster finds some interest in the response (and she indicates that she did) that's pretty much good enough for me. Yeah, we know. Yeah, and we know what you want to talk about, too. And it generally goes into the Out-Of-Context thread. Heh, heh.  |
|
tigger
Trail Wise!
Posts: 2,547
|
Post by tigger on Mar 13, 2016 8:38:07 GMT -8
To echo skchrip and toejam, when I come back from a long trip, home and work just don't seem real. Echo, echo... When I got off the ice sheet last year and flew home, Normal life felt completely foreign for several months. I felt like a stranger in my own community. |
|
|
|
Post by tipiwalter on Mar 13, 2016 8:47:57 GMT -8
I just got back from my last long trip and stood over the indoor toilet for over an hour flushing it repeatedly while drooling. Sadly, the drooling had nothing to do with watching the toilet flush.
|
|
reuben
Trail Wise!
Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
Posts: 11,167
|
Post by reuben on Mar 14, 2016 4:07:36 GMT -8
Yeah, and we know what you want to talk about, too. And it generally goes into the Out-Of-Context thread. Well, sometimes I like to talk about my toes. (OOC, snark snark).  |
|
Westy
Trail Wise!
Diagnosed w/Post-Trail Transition Syndrome
Posts: 1,960
|
Post by Westy on Mar 14, 2016 4:27:43 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by cweston on Mar 14, 2016 4:29:43 GMT -8
I found myself not quite lonely, per se, but something close to it- almost as if all the beauty I was taking in was too much to bear Personally, I'd much rather deal with solitude than conforming to a group, but there have been times that you see something incredibly breathtaking, like the multiple hues of purple the mountains turn at twilight. Not too much to bear, but rather a shame not to share. Yeah, that's exactly spot on for me. When I'm solo, I occasionally have that thought of how much I wish there were someone to share this incredible experience with. Kindof like after a parent dies, but you still have these thoughts sometimes, when you have good news to share. "I should call Dad and tell him about this! Oh, yeah, that's right--I can't do that." Overall, I really enjoy solo trips and I really enjoy trips with other as well. They are two very different experiences. |
|
