Outdoorsy: My Relationship With Religion And Pop Culture

As I have gotten older I feel as though I established a rapport with my peers and people within the communities I have lived. With this understanding I find myself basing some parts of who I want to be and how I want to act on how others interact. When I notice someone do something I don’t agree with or that makes others uncomfortable, I make a mental note on the effect it had and do my best to avoid that. There are countless times people will be rude, inconsiderate or selfish and when you take a step back to think about other people I truly believe it makes you change the way you act. I strive to break out of my comfort zone every day and I hope that as I grow and figure things out about myself I can help others do the same along way. Socrates
described the golden rule in saying “Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”

I value and identify myself based on my relationships with my friends, family, society, and nature.
I feel very fortunate to have grown up with what I would describe as free-spirited, outdoorsy parents. I never once doubted the support I had to be exactly who I wanted to be and to trust my intuition. Even in bigger areas such as religion and pop culture I always felt as though my parents had no opinion; they were my guardian angels guiding me reach whatever goal I was working towards. The importance of my parents being ‘outdoorsy’ is that it helped me establish my own relationship with nature at a young age. It made me feel comfortable in the world. I knew I had a place to go, a place that was just right for me. I still feel the same today and spend my time in the outdoors and playing sports as much as possible. I have been skiing since I was two years old and took up snowboarding when I was six. I grew up playing competitive soccer and I still play intermural games here at western. During the winter I work up at Mt. Baker Ski Area which is a great mix of work for the first half of the day and leisure for the second half. I love the environment and relationships I have established with my co-workers who offer so many new perspectives to the outdoors. I am
a very motivated and goal-oriented person, but I often find myself setting goals quite far out of reach and that is something I want to improve. For example I am currently in the Plastics and Composites Engineering major here at Western. It is a great program and to be making skis and snowboards would be the ultimate dream job. However my love and need to get outside has always been the biggest hindrance on my studies. I want to make a smart decision towards a realistic degree based on my interests. It is not that I couldn’t do the work, it’s whether or not I think I would be willing to devote all my time to school. I look forward to more growth in the future, I want to be hard working, eco-friendly, and have developed great relationships with the people surrounding me. I hope to work at a job I love that allows me to get outside during the day. I also want to continue to experience personal growth as much as possible, and one day be as down to earth and happy as my parents.

When I was 17 years old I had the opportunity to change my view of the world.
I spent my summer living in the North Cascades out of a backpack summiting the biggest peaks and living life with the most minimal impact on the environment. I was a part of a 10 person NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) group that set out to learn technical outdoor skills, leadership, and environmental ethics. If I were to describe everything I learned and every euphoric moment I experienced this essay would be much too long. Luckily, what I was able to conclude at the end of the course was similar to what I am aiming to describe in this essay – my core values. Firstly, Leadership – The skill of being able to effectively communicate with everyone and mediate situations by good judgment, and awareness of overall needs. Leadership on NOLS taught me integrity, accountability, and humility; all of these being traits I value and believe make up a true leader. I have viewed leadership different ever since NOLS and I use that knowledge every day in the classroom and with my peers. I hope I can resemble being a leader for the rest of my life and help bring people together for a more effective outcome. Secondly, Respect – The respect yourself and every person deserves and the respect their thoughts and opinions deserve. With that also comes respect for nature, by which I mean living without the distractions of modern civilizations and gaining a sense of responsibility of our actions. Respecting what
nature really has to offer and all it has to teach us. I hope to feel less eager to be connected to modern civilizations. I was able to live out of a backpack without showers, toilet paper, and running water for multiple months and it was refreshing to realize that none of those things are really needed. I would love to aspire to help preserve nature and work with people to leave a smaller ecological footprint. My third value is Inspiration – One of the biggest changes I noticed after returning home from NOLS was my thirst for things that inspired me. I started going out of my comfort zone and looking for small ways that I could grow and change that would give me that same feeling. I was inspired to be a better person who was able to adapt to any situation. I strongly believe that everything I learned during that summer with NOLS changed the course of my life. Without my newfound thirst for inspiration I don’t think I would’ve ever worked so hard or been so passionate about moving to New Zealand and traveling after graduating High School. I trust my life with fall into place by continuing to focus on things that give me inspiration. If I am still feeling inspired with my life and surroundings in twenty years I will be very happy. My final core value is Hard-work – My father taught me at a very young age that no matter what I am doing I need to do it to the best of my ability. He showed me what achievements came from working hard and taught me how to make my own aspirations come true. Hard-work is a trait I will practice for the rest of my life, it is something that will only bring positive outcomes.

I think about the experiences and adventures in my life very often and know they have made me into the person I am today. I look forward to new changes and growth in the coming years to see where life takes me. I am confident that my life will continue to be filled the outdoors, and new experiences. Family is something I also value very much, the relationship I am lucky enough to have with my parents has been such a positive part of my life. I hope to continue to experience personal growth and happiness.