Hiking is a place of healing.

Have you ever felt the need for healing? You know it could be a physical need, like an injured foot or a cardiac issue. Or maybe it is the fact that you have just worked your ass off for the last month, six months, or even a year. Running a household, maybe even a job outside the house. Having kids, grandkids, or aging parents living in your house. You get my idea. Then there is the healing of the heart and soul. You’ve lost something or someone. Has anyone ever told you that grief can be for something that seems frivolous, like the loss of a job or even the loss of how you looked when you were younger? The loss of your own space as you have loved ones move back into your home. That is one that I have been looking at for the last few years. First, it was my mother. I don’t know about you, but my mother and I couldn’t have been more different. My husband used to describe her as far right as Attila the Hun and me as far left as Bernie Sanders. I haven’t lived with her since I turned 17 and got married. So needless to say, we are or were very different. She at first had physical issues like small strokes and the like, which necessitated moving her from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Tallahassee, where we live. That worked for a couple of years, then Alzheimer’s kicked in, and she couldn’t manage her life on her own. After a few years of sharing our home with her, she made her transition to the other side almost two years ago. My husband and I had some months with just us in our home, and then it was a child with his daughter. I am not sure how long that will last, but I trust and believe I need some time for healing. Being a woman over 50, actually 69, I frequently seek the healing sabbath of hiking. We women are often “all things to all people,” and our body, mind, and spirit need the rest the outdoors bring. Many people feel that hiking or being outdoors feels like a sabbath. I am spending a week with a 3-mile beach outside my door. Being outside, listening to the waves, and feeling the salt spray against my cheek gives my soul, mind, and body the peace I so desperately need. I hope you will take the time to put on your boots, your flip-flops, or go barefoot, walk outside, take a deep breath, and, with a sigh of relief, remember that no matter our role, no matter how many people call to us to care for and nurture them, it really only takes one step out the door to refill our spirits and feel the sabbath. Take time to heal yourself; you so deserve it!