I have learned to understand that clickbaits are all around us. My daily visits to streaming platforms have taught me more than what I need to know to steer clear of those. Or that’s what I would like to think.
But I fall for them at least a couple of times a week. After all, who am I to look the other way from the temptation of clicking on a link to reveal the secret of losing tons of weight overnight by just adding one simple ingredient to my water!
There are a ton of quizzes out there that can tell you what kind of personality you are, what animal you are, what color you are, and so forth.
While some of these tests are rooted in proper logic, most are not.
One that I find pretty regularly is judging what kind of person you are based on your answer to a question.
“What do you like better – beaches or mountains?”
Now, if someone were to ask me this question (it seems like a good icebreaker) a couple of months back, I would say beaches by reflex. Something about just lying there, doing nothing, is irresistibly attractive. To me.
A drink in hand, a book in the other, resting on a lounge chair under an umbrella. Waves crashing musically on the shore. Oh, heaven!
And it is for this reason that almost all the getaways I manage to scrape through involve beaches. Beaches do justice to the concept of idle resting like none other.
One of my friends, who is a health nut, happened to suggest going for a short hike in a nearby park a few months ago. The park is massive – replete with forests and lakes and streams.
Although allergic to any sentence with the word ‘hike’ in it, I found the novelty of exploring the park too hard to resist. I had been playing forest soundtracks for my relaxation exercises for too long. It would be fun actually to experience it in nature.
My darling friend knew my fitness level and did me a favor by choosing a relatively easy hike.
I was especially intrigued because this outing had no relation to the beach of any kind. I was looking forward to understanding what people like about forests and mountains. To me, both can be pretty scary and more so, when the hills are especially lush AND welcoming to dangerous creatures – other than human beings – read wolves and bears.
The good thing for me was that my friend had done that hike multiple times and knew the route like the back of her hand. I found the hike exhilarating, to say the least.
It was as if I could smell the lush green forests. The birds chirping, small streams flowing. A random squirrel making its way across the dried leaves did scare me from time to time, and so did the doting mosquitoes, but the experience of being so close to nature, breathing the ultra-fresh air, having nature play the great forest soundtrack and a friend that knew what navigation meant and how to do it.
And the view from the top was just marvellous!
I came back with a new understanding of happiness outside of beaches. I dare say I found myself softening to the idea of taking a mountain trip someday. It’s fascinating to see how things work out sometimes.
A couple of weeks back, I concluded my first trip to the mountains. I get goosebumps thinking about them. The mountains! Those beautifully breathtaking, magnificent creations! Being on them was a weird feeling – like hugging nature in a warm embrace.
They taught me perspective, how small I was, or my problems in the grand scheme of things. They taught me to live in the moment as no self-help book could. They are therapy for the mind and soul.
If someone were to ask me to choose between mountains or beaches today – I don’t think I can give them an answer.
Friends of Words 