I Don't Need to Prove I Can Hike in the Rain. Black Beads.
Sometimes when I'm out trying to enjoy the great outdoors the weather is not exactly cooperative. It's rainy, or it's too cold, or the area is lousy with biting insects. (Okay, mosquitos aren't weather, but work with me here....) What to do in those situations?
"Life's not perfect," part of my mind jeers. "Suck it up and hike."
"You and your hike-in-the-rain guilt trip can fuck right off," another part my mind responds. I've hiked in the rain enough in the past to know it's not much fun. And I've done it enough that I don't need to prove anything.
The Story of the Black Beads
When I was in the Boy Scouts as a tween and teen my troop awarded activity beads. Each time we went on a hike or camping trip we'd get a small, colored bead to hang on a leather strand on a belt loop. I've included a picture right/above that I found online of another troop's activity beads. Ours were similar though simpler. We had only plain discs, no fancy stars or crap..
Not every troop did/does activity beads, though mine was quite proud of our tradition. We scouts would wear the belt loop every time we dressed in scout uniform and would count coup (literally) by seeing who had the most beads.
The color of the bead indicates the type of activity. Certain colors indicate the weather. In particular, black beads indicated a camping trip where it rained- and more than just a sprinkle. Well, my bead strings didn't look like the picture here; mine had way more black beads. On my coup strings it was like one-third of the beads were black. Basically I camped in the rain a lot.
I've taken a lot of things from my childhood experience as a Scout into my adult life. One of them, of course, is my love of the great outdoors. Another is the conviction that I don't need to prove myself outdoors. I don't need to prove that I'm tough or able to deal with bad weather or whatever- because I've done it enough times already.
So, how does this apply in practice?
You Can't Find Gold in a Silver Mine
Like I hinted at the top, I'm willing to pull the plug when things are not good. As an adult who's toughed through enough misery already in my life, I don't need to prove it to myself or anybody else.
Moreover, it's not just about not needing to prove I can handle adversity. I've also learned through gaining life's wisdom that when I'm in a way-less-than-ideal situation I've got to ask, "Is there a better situation I can spend my time and energy on?" Like I wrote in explaining why I bailed out of hiking a trail I had really wanted to hike in New Zealand, You can't find gold in a silver mine. You can't drink whiskey from a bottle of wine.
My numerous black beads are reminders of that.
"Life's not perfect," part of my mind jeers. "Suck it up and hike."
"You and your hike-in-the-rain guilt trip can fuck right off," another part my mind responds. I've hiked in the rain enough in the past to know it's not much fun. And I've done it enough that I don't need to prove anything.
The Story of the Black Beads
When I was in the Boy Scouts as a tween and teen my troop awarded activity beads. Each time we went on a hike or camping trip we'd get a small, colored bead to hang on a leather strand on a belt loop. I've included a picture right/above that I found online of another troop's activity beads. Ours were similar though simpler. We had only plain discs, no fancy stars or crap..
Not every troop did/does activity beads, though mine was quite proud of our tradition. We scouts would wear the belt loop every time we dressed in scout uniform and would count coup (literally) by seeing who had the most beads.
The color of the bead indicates the type of activity. Certain colors indicate the weather. In particular, black beads indicated a camping trip where it rained- and more than just a sprinkle. Well, my bead strings didn't look like the picture here; mine had way more black beads. On my coup strings it was like one-third of the beads were black. Basically I camped in the rain a lot.
I've taken a lot of things from my childhood experience as a Scout into my adult life. One of them, of course, is my love of the great outdoors. Another is the conviction that I don't need to prove myself outdoors. I don't need to prove that I'm tough or able to deal with bad weather or whatever- because I've done it enough times already.
So, how does this apply in practice?
You Can't Find Gold in a Silver Mine
Like I hinted at the top, I'm willing to pull the plug when things are not good. As an adult who's toughed through enough misery already in my life, I don't need to prove it to myself or anybody else.
Moreover, it's not just about not needing to prove I can handle adversity. I've also learned through gaining life's wisdom that when I'm in a way-less-than-ideal situation I've got to ask, "Is there a better situation I can spend my time and energy on?" Like I wrote in explaining why I bailed out of hiking a trail I had really wanted to hike in New Zealand, You can't find gold in a silver mine. You can't drink whiskey from a bottle of wine.
My numerous black beads are reminders of that.