My Journey Through Alaska

My Journey Through Alaska

It has been a week since I left Alaska, yet I can still remember my very first day there. It is true what they say, Alaska is not meant for the weak. After fifteen weeks of backpacking, every day still felt like an act of survival. Yet, even so, for all its harshness, there was a beauty and softness about the wilderness. It had a rhythm, a gentle tune, unlike any I had heard before. I shall miss the old fortresses hidden under the blanket of trees and the icy lakes that lay in between, for they came to know me well, and I, them.

From the beginning, this journey has always been about growth. And by and by, I did grow, though not in the ways I had anticipated. Something about being surrounded by Alaskan wilderness reminded me of a truth I once knew: Life is simple, and it is only when we realize that, that we begin to fully understand. I thought, perhaps, that I would have a sudden moment of clarity, a strike of wisdom, that I would come to know what is ahead of me. But instead, I found peace in the unknown and clarity in the uncertain. Rather than finding out who I was meant to be, I found beauty in who I am. And somehow, that is enough. The journey was not profound, but slow. Bit by bit, I grew stronger than I was before. Yet, I could not tell you when or how. Peace just came.