There’s a phase at the start of every expedition where even the seasoned traveler does everything within their power to keep their hands clean, their feet dry, and their knees unscraped.

Compare that with the creature that emerges after a week in the wilderness, sloshing through rivers, crawling on hands and knees through thickets, and pulling themselves up steep slopes by muddy roots, and you’d be forgiven for thinking they were entirely different species, let alone people.

It’s only natural to maintain a level of preciousness about our comport and appearance when we start out on any project.

But make no mistake.

What serves us in civilized society is of no use in the wild lands where we discover and create our best work.

Better to dispel our preciousness early and get on with the work we came to do, using all the tools at our disposal, scrambling our way forward, and finding creative ways around the obstacles in our path.

Shed the hope of keeping clean and unscarred.

That life is but a memory now.

Bury your hands in the soil.

Soak your feet in icy streams.

And discover the freedom that comes from embodying your full potential,

Uninhibited. Unencumbered. Unafraid.

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