Alone in the Woods

Some people will tell you that I am dramatic, they are most likely correct. So, when I walk alone in the woods, sometimes I think that a serial killer could make an appearance. He would jump out with an overgrown beard with leaves in it, missing teeth, wearing plaid, and carrying a big knife. It is a truly awful thought, the idea that you all alone, with no one around to hear you scream. I might stop watching police procedurals, as they have affected my view on the world.

I relax into the colors of the changing leaves, hearing water run by me on my right, and thinking that I should have worn sneakers. I also think that next time I go on a walk I will wear something in the color of “please don’t shoot me orange”. I have no idea when hunting season starts, but I do not want it to start with me! Mid worry I realized that I rarely walk alone anymore, especially in the woods. As a child I was told never to go off by myself. I could get lost; get hurt, or some other thing to scare me out of being in danger. Then walking further I realized that Henry David Thoreau would never think about the woods this way. He would have loved my walk, the changing colors of the leaves, the animals scampering. He would have found perfection, where I found anxiety.

Thoreau didn’t feel this way about being alone in the woods, he wanted to be alone, he craved it. He did not have images of serial killers dancing in his head (thank you Criminal Minds)! He did not come from a culture where worrying is a national pastime.

“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone, I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude” (128). Being alone was freeing for him. He was able to think and appreciate what was occurring around him. He does talk about being lonely but he says that people are more likely to feel alone in a group than they are by themselves. He was his own companion, which I think, grounded him.

At first Thoreau’s entire perspective on being alone mystified me, as I myself enjoy being around people. As I thought about it I realized that being alone is looked down upon today. We as a culture are supposed to be involved, with people, work, and various other things in an effort to seem normal. For Thoreau this idea would not have been normal, it would have been crazy. I was nervous about being in the woods by myself, I did not need to be, perhaps taking a page out of Thoreau’s book wouldn’t be a bad thing. We as a culture should take some time for ourselves, to think and reflect on what we want. In doing this perhaps, we can fix some of today’s problems.