Personal desire for isolation originates in the overwhelming amounts of social pressures, responsibilities, and overwhelming amounts of work, but few can entirely find the solitude they that they desire. There are numerous distractions and interruptions as result of the society and your location. However, to hikers, it is apparent that the only peace is on the trails. The concept being that to completely enter solitude requires detachment from all social relations and routine living through returning to nature.
To engage entirely with your own thoughts, you must remove yourself you’re your position in society. But how does that mean? It requires separation from the constant contact that makes up our day-to-day lives. Daily interactions, though some may not seem particularly significant or poignant, require you to be conscious of the other person with whom you are speaking. You must be actively listening, engaged in their thoughts, able to volley back in forth in a conversation, all while trying to adhere to social formalities. For instance, cell phones and the constant texting between teenagers and adults alike. Texting is at an all time high, having four out of five people carrying a mobile phone, and some people averaging 40 text messages a day. It has been recorded that approximately fifty percent of users say that their cell phones are a major foundation in their social lives. Therefore, to fully embrace solitude, you must disconnect yourself from the social network, both physically and technologically, and turn to nature in search of solitude. In the backcountry, distanced from the social interactions that we maybe accustomed to, you can hike in peace, free of the stress of social network. Your only focus is on the earth on which you step, and your single goal, which is to complete your trek. I believe that when you are hiking, you are the purest for of yourself,