The Kern River

Whenever life seems too difficult I let my mind wander to the Kern River. This is where I can become one with nature and not worry about the issues society has created for me. Here I can take off my shoes and sit by the river. I feel so natural, so safe, so alone, yet so spiritual. Here I contemplate what is most important to me and leave the projects that will be gone in a week. I can be as rugged and adventurous as I like. I can leave all classifications people have of me at the bottom of the river. I can wash my body clean of all the judgments and assumptions people have of me. Here I am who I want to be. Here is where I grow into who I want to be. Here is where I can showcase my best attributes. I am a strong and independent adventurer who has a knife clipped to my belt. I am a mountain climber who can't find a mountain that can't be climbed. Here I am successful for what I want to be successful for... not for a silly test. My only tests are facing my fears and overcoming my perceived weaknesses. If you want to see me in my element... where my attributes shine through... take me to the Kern. Take me into nature. Put me in the sun and you don't even have to show me a path. For here there are no paths but the ones you make. Everyone who comes to the Kern may not have the spiritual and self bettering experience that I have but the opportunity is out there. The rocky mountains are there to be climbed and the river is there to be wrestled across. I will always travel back to the Kern even when it is only in my imagination.