It’s a hot summer day and I’ve decided to go for a nice stroll in the swampy woods of Florida. Unbeknownst to me, I am not alone. In the corner of my eye, I see a wild boar staring wildly at me huffing and puffing, clearly upset that I have trespassed on its turf. Ready to make an example out of me it starts running towards me, so I do the only thing I know how to do, I take off running. As I run through the woods, trying not to trip over tree roots, and green plants, I hit every tree branch along the way. To make matters worse the spiders seem to love this place. Running at top speed I desperately try to avoid the thousand of spider webs on every path. Running for my life, I don’t have time to stop for the snakes that are lounging on the ground, so I jump over them in hopes that I won’t get bitten. I swat away annoying bugs attacking my face while daring to look back to see how close the boar is. To my surprise there’s nothing behind me but that doesn’t stop me from running until I get back to my car. Finally reaching my car, I unlock the door and hop in like my feet were on fire. Barely able to breathe, I tell myself I’m never going back to the woods again.
Now, this is an exaggerated story from my imagination because once upon a time before I became a lover of nature and the outdoors, I used to fear the woods. The thought of going out there made me think of horror movies, bear attacks, and snakes crawling out of hiding places to bite me. My imagination as you seen above, would run wild with all kinds of possibilities of what could happen to me if I dared ventured off into the woods. I admired people on Animal Planet who traversed the woods in the name of exploration, but I was never to be one of them. So, I thought. Until one day would change everything I knew and believed about the woods.
In 2019, I decided to go camping up North in California. I’ll admit when I signed up for this venture I had so much fear about what could happen. After all, we weren’t going glamping we were doing the real camping. The use the bathroom outside, no showers for days, scavenging for food. Okay, maybe not that last part but we were really camping. On our way there I had all these thoughts about what could go wrong while also being filled with excitement about the uncertainty of what to expect.
As scared as I was about the thought of being in the woods at night, I was feeling partially brave because we had these two adorable yet scary Dogos coming along the trip with us.
When we got to our destination and started exploring the woods, I realized the fears that I had pinned up inside me, slowly started to go away. Everything that I thought I knew was clearly wrong. I had this fear that bears, and snakes would just be everywhere and that at every turn would be some kind of bug or critter, but it was so empty and silent. The quietness calmed me, and the beauty of nature’s surroundings had me in so much awe, I couldn’t fathom how I never did this before. You realize, until you experience something for yourself, most of your fears are just made-up assumptions based on other people’s experiences or fictional stories.
Walking through the woods was surreal. Countless times I’ve driven by the woods thinking how scary it must be inside them and here I was walking around the plants, the trees; free and unbothered. There was no wild boar out to get me, the bears didn’t come visit, and the snakes never came out to play. It was like all the animals were in hiding but the truth is, they were doing their thing wherever they were; not worried about me. The woods were their home, I was the one invading it, yet I was the most scared.
I must say the experience changed me in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. It was in this moment I realized the importance of exploration and discovery. We live in a world filled with people telling us what to expect and how to perceive things but it’s not until you experience something with your own eyes that you fully grasp the truth of it and how to take it all in. I was so scared of the woods because of the fears that were put on me about the woods. Yes, dangerous things can happen if you’re not careful, but the woods are not as scary as our imagination makes it out to be. Nature at its purest form, untouched, unbothered, is our natural habitat but because we’ve changed our habitat to suburbs and shopping malls, we’ve lost comfort with the natural to embrace the comforts of man.
What I realized more than anything is the importance of learning truths for myself by discovering what life was really like around me. It made me start questioning everything that I’ve been told to accept and believe. It made me be more open to exploring life in the places that were most uncomfortable to me because on the other side of my fears lived a world of possibilities, adventure, and honestly freedom. That’s when the idea of a limitless life was born. What would it be like to live the kind of life that allowed me to have no limits on what I could do and accomplish? I’m a documentary filmmaker because I am a curious soul who has so many questions that I want answers to. Yet, I found myself trapped by these societal expectations of what I should be exploring and what I should know.
Truth is searching for answers just leads to more questions however, I’m learning, life is not about finding answers but discovering them, exploring them, and learning from them. To be limitless is to defy all odds, break barriers, and live a life that is free from societal traps and false beliefs. That day when I was out there camping, I felt limitless. For the first time I believed I could do anything if I put my mind to it including face my deepest fears. I knew when I came back from that trip, I would never see the world the same again and I haven’t. God has given us all a unique perspective or lens to look at the world from. I find that the one who dares to take risks and step out of their comfort zones is rewarded more than the one who lives confined in their fear.
If you would have told me all those years ago, I would become a lover of all things nature and the outdoors, I would have laughed at you. The outdoors to me was just a big pot for insects and critters that I never wanted to see. However, fast forward to now, the outdoors has become my calming place. I can’t imagine my life away from nature let alone surviving this chaotic world without it. However, it has also become a symbol for what it means to be free and live a limitless life. Though I someday hope to retire to a life lost somewhere in nature, for now I will settle for discovering what it means to live a limitless life by searching the world, learning people’s stories, and asking the questions.
So, what does it mean to live a limitless life?
Let’s find out together!
#rjpwritez
