Last Saturday I took my 60-year old body and minor vertigo out for a spin in an outdoor awareness class. Part of the class was negotiating a course through the woods by following a very long string that snaked here and there. I was later told the course was 2000 feet long. Oh, we did it blindfolded.

I was slow. I fell. I chose the “wrong” side of the string and so encountered obstacles not intended by the course designers. I couldn't immediately find where the string continued a couple times. I climbed a barbed wire fence unnecessarily and tore my pants getting back over it. I got tired.

It was great!

I am still thinking about the lessons offered by the string walk. Leaving aside various metaphors for my personal life, the experience offers insights to my decision-making process that are still unfolding for me. Of course, one of those insights may be that I think too much!

Often times in the natural environment reasoning and memory work are luxuries. Reaction is far more prevalent. How stressful was the exercise do you figure?

Assuming you would undergo such an exercise on a regular basis, you would naturally adapt to the conditions more and more, relieving the stress as your body and mind learn to cope, and learn to negotiate the limitations. Our reasoning ability provides us with perhaps the greatest chance of adapting to our environment and any changes we encounter of perhaps any creature on the planet.