Lessons From the Hiking Trail

Greetings from Palms Spring! Wow. What an amazing place it is here! From the beautiful pools to the gorgeous mountains, this place is unreal. 

My parents and I went up to Joshua Tree National Park the other day to see the rocks, experience the sun and just take in the immense desert beauty. Through hiking on trails and driving through the park I began to realize how much better off we'd all be if we could act like we were on hiking trails. 

Hiking trails are such a microcosm of a semi-perfect world. People are polite, don't litter and enjoy nature for what it is without ruining it. All in one little (or not so little) space. After thinking it over, here are some lessons I think we can take off the trail and into the city

1. Smile more.

On hiking trails, everyone smiles at each other. People say hello, like you're old friends. At first it was weird, like "What the hell?" but after a while I got used to it. It's important to remember to do this in the real world, to say hello and to even talk to people you wouldn't normally talk to. We all are walking through life--why not do it together?

2. Keep it clean.

National parks are spotless (it's a federal offense to litter)...like Disney World clean. Everywhere else could be just as clean, we just have to try. Seriously, like who litters? I hope none of y'all.

3. Stop. Breathe. Take it all in.

Only at National Parks do we really stop to take in all the wonder that is around us. To absorb how amazing nature is. Why don't we do it elsewhere? Life is beautiful if you stop to look around every once and a while, plus that deep breathing is good for you!

Well, that was certainly sappy. But still, extremely true. Life on a hiking trail is easy, and we can take some things back to civilization to make our busy days a little easier too.