By Brandon Hunt*
There is a peacefulness to the outside. One that calms, one that comforts, one that assures everything will be alright in the end. It is through this peacefulness that humans are recreated. Before laptops that this essay is being written on, before the cars that take students to Auburn’s campus, before artificial lights that dictate the waking hours, before all of that… there was outdoors. There was only outdoors. Humans have built castles that separate them from the outside. They see it as dangerous. And while that may be true, it is also a place of beauty. A place where life is allowed to roam free, where no one sees the mistakes made. There is a state park in Auburn, Chewacla State Park. I went there recently with a friend of mine. There was a hiking trail, and while we were woefully unprepared for a hike, we hiked. We walked for a while, no plans of where to go, just seeing where the path takes us. Eventually, we came across a waterfall. It is a small waterfall, but still, it is a waterfall. I had never seen one before. My heart skipped a beat at the sight, at the sound, at the smell. We walked to the bottom, where it flowed into a small river, and we sat. We sat for hours. Nothing mattered outside of us. It was simply two friends talking, surrounded by beauty. The outdoors cleanses people, it removes us from everything that stresses humans out. Outdoors, you need not worry about anything.
While we were sitting at the bottom of the waterfall, not once did we check our phones. We felt no need to. The outdoors removes that need. Social media has poisoned so many people that they feel the need to capture every moment. They feel that if they do not take out their phones and capture the moment, it might slip away… forever. I still remember everything about that waterfall. Exactly where we were, the people that surrounded us, what I was wearing, what she was wearing, the sound of it all. At one point, I got up and walked to the waterfall. I stuck my hand under the running water. It felt amazing. It feels amazing. I can still remember what it felt like. It was almost as if being outside helped the memories solidify. Even if people want to capture a moment, doing so through a screen is not the answer. There are other methods of capturing moments. Using a phone puts a barrier between the moment and the person. Simply put down the phone and soak up the beauty that pervades everything.
I am a student. A college student, no less. There are a lot of responsibilities that come with being a college student. I need to work to support myself now while also studying and going to class to support my future. It is a lot. It is an overwhelming amount sometimes. The outdoors provides an escape from it. I am almost certain I had something I could have been doing. Whether it be applying to jobs, or reading syllabi, or even just preparing myself for the first day of classes, I could have done something. I was tired, however. I had been preparing myself for a week. I needed a break. While it is not the same for everyone, for me the outdoors provides that break. As I sat with my friend, all my worries left me. I was no longer worried about my classes or finding a job or… anything. I was surrounded by beautiful nature. I did not realize it then, but I realize it now… there were no lights. No streetlights illuminating the area, no overhead fluorescent lights blinding us, no lightbulbs glaring on my glasses… just the sun. I was not trapped by walls; I could go wherever I desired. There were no expectations of assignments, jobs, or studying. It was just me and my friend.
The outdoors is the best form of entertainment. In this age of constant content, where everything is vying for your attention, the outdoors beats all of that by doing the exact opposite. The outdoors does not yell at people, there is no thumbnails, no instant gratification. Some may even call the outdoors boring because it is slow. That could not be farther from the truth. In the slowness is the beauty, the entertainment. Watching nature as it occurs was mesmerizing. The sounds that pervaded everything were mystical. So many times will people be hanging out and then the conversation lulls and suddenly everyone’s phones are out, scrolling TikTok or Instagram. There were certainly times when the conversation between my friend and I waned, but we just sat there, watching. The outdoors provides no incentive to pull out phones. For a lot of locations, there is no service to even check them. For the few that do, there’s much more beautiful scenery all around. Scenery that people can just soak up, no strings attached.
The outdoors is an escape. It is an escape from the fear of missing out, an escape from the endless holes of attention-grabbing content, and sometimes an escape from people. That is how it recreates people. It separates people from the world they are used to. The world everyone is so used to living. It shows everyone what could be. It shows everyone what is. The beauty of it all is something you cannot experience from your house or your job. People must go out and grab it. The waterfall was an accident, the result of a spur of the moment decision. Yet, it impacted me so much. For the first time in a long time, I was relaxed. It was a feeling I had not felt in a long time. A feeling I so want to recapture. People may question how I know the outdoors recreates people. It is simple; I was recreated by it.
*Brandon is an undergraduate student majoring in Pre-Computer Engineering.
Brandon
