Against Despair

Some candid thoughts & challenge for you

Last week I turned off social media, I was spiraling and couldn’t watch another news reel.

In my home environment growing up Fox News was on every weeknight. Inevitably, I learned to tune out the news because it was always loud and glaringly urgent.

The thing is…when everything is urgent…nothing is urgent.

I know there are grave problems that need to be addressed. But how can the issues be addressed with clarity from the vantage of a political system that thrives on cyclical dysfunction, corruption, diversion, and outrage?

The political culture in America is like a toxic alcoholic relative who stirs up drama and calls to unload her sadness and stress. She calls every other day, abruptly, the phone ringing incessantly, as long as you listen and humor her pathology.

Imagine for a moment if present-day leaders carved out time from their suffocating schedules to take a quiet walk alone in the woods. If they did we would be living in a very different world.

The problem that festers beneath large scale problems is the absence of solitude. That’s my kindergartner answer to all the world’s problems. The powerful men in charge don’t take walks!

Seriously, I started the new year with high hopes and big goals. And I imagine you started 2026 feeling ready to tackle your Mt. Everest dreams.

Don’t despair, stay the course.

You have a capital A advocate looking out for you—call him your guardian angel, the Holy Ghost, or your grandmother who you only see twice a year and still she never stops believing in you. She might be sitting in her rocking chair this very moment, with coffee, looking out the window and praying for your optimal well-being.

So. In light of all that’s going on…I have a challenge for you!

Carve out time this week to go for a walk in the woods. Even if it’s cold, bundle up, then walk as long as it takes to feel joy rise inside.

Procession

Kassi Wilson

Even though it’s very cold, I force myself 
to go on a walk and soon enough 
my ordinary walk turns into a procession, 
the kind of procession that leads you somewhere 
unexpected. I step outside  
and stumble onto a trail that takes me 
to the woods. All of a sudden I'm immersed
amid snow-covered trees, following hoof prints
through the snow. Venturing out, I see
I'm not alone. The deer leave a path for me 
to follow and the geese form 
a V-shape pattern in the sky. A hawk 
with outstretched wings begins circling 
high above. It feels as if his stoic
eyes are watching over me. 
In time, the sun starts to set, such glory sweeps
across the sky. Hues of gold and blue 
descend upon the day cleansing my outlook, 
healing my life. Sometimes
I wonder why I don’t take more walks—
the answer to all my problems.  

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I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

—John Muir