I am traveling in Alaska this week with family. We’ve learned about native culture and spent some time outdoors rafting and exploring a glacier.
As we wander around, I have 4g cellular service everywhere. I can check in to a glacier using Facebook. I can snapchat my friends 1000 miles away to show them a king salmon being pulled from a river. It’s pretty amazing.
I try to imagine what it was like to be one of the first settlers here, forging a path, living off the land and battling the wild. Some came seeking gold, some seeking land. They risked their lives. They left their families for years.
I often wonder what it would be like to go back to those times. Could I survive? Would I be brave? Would I know what to do?
Today’s frontier seems so digial. If you can weird a mighty keyboard, the path is unending. Yet survival skills are left behind. The ability to live from what nature has provided is a lost art.
Deep in my soul I desire to return to this wild place. To live simply and appreciate essentials. This thought scares me, yet I know that walking into fear is where growth happens. The wild is calling.