Watch this beautiful video of Klara doing a 25-day hike through Iceland by herself. She talks about it here through Q&A.
I realised how vulnerable I was. I also felt stupid, as it was me who got myself into that situation, because I thought I would be modest and intelligent enough to stop and turn around, when it would get too dangerous, but I then I didn’t. I learned a lot about myself that day.
I would love an extraordinary trip like this. I don’t know if I could last a whole 25 days by myself though - my thoughts are on the fact that I’d hate to travel without sharing these experiences with someone else. While backpacking last summer, I met so many solo backpackers and couldn’t help wonder if they were lonely. I can see how some people love it, but I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much as if I were to share it with someone.
What about you?
A Girl Makes Do
Inspired to go 1 year without buying anything but the necessities.
I came across this project Make It Do, created by Meg Hourihan, who is taking on a one-year challenge to not buy anything except for the things she’s “used up” or “worn out,” and for everything else - she’s going to “make do.”
Meg is a co-founder of Blogger, advisor to Serious Eats, a New Yorker, and adorable mom of two; she’s also like the most of us who loves to shop even when we don’t need to, & rarely use most of the ingredients that are hiding out in the darkest part of our pantries. Instead, we just like to keep buying more stuff. Frankly it’s hard not be consumed by our own consumer culture because we’re always surrounded by the things we wish we had, and we like to feel good about ourselves through having nice things. But it gets sour when you overspend your money and time on lots of little things that aren’t important, and miss out on being creative, crafty, and environmentally conscious too.
Meg’s project (with these guidelines) is a great stab at taking sustainability into your own hands (re-using, recycling) and also understanding happiness better (we don’t need products to make us happy). Though I’m not as confident as Meg that I can make do without splurges once in a while (not to mention how much $$ I spend on coffee…balanced by how much it makes me happy….), it definitely inspired me to be more conscious of my purchases & become more self-sufficient this year. Meg was bold enough to put out a public spreadsheet so that the world can keep tabs of her spendings. So here’s mine {note - I’m currently job hunting so I’m not spending that much moolah, ha!}.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
