Simon Robson - Outside Reading Reflection Blog 7

Simon Robson

Outside Reading Reflection Blog 7

Reflection of Veterans Writing on PTSD and Hiking

12/11/2020

     Today I was finishing up my research paper when I found a writing by an army veteran who had decided to hike the Appalachian trail after coming back from war. He had become a writer after his days of serving and was encouraging other veterans to follow in his footsteps and use thru hiking as a means of spiritual healing for PTSD. This was the topic of my paper so a ton of my research focused on the use of outdoor activities to help veterans with PTSD. This first hand experience from a veteran was extra intriguing to me though and while it answered some of my questions it gave me others.

In his article Nathan Hankes attempted to answer the questions involving how veterans can use time in nature to promote their psychological, emotional and spiritual health. He wrote about the ways that he attempted to open himself up to it and give himself inner freedom. Hankes worked to explain that by leaving expectations behind one will become more accepting of what is to come of them and will open them up to spiritual freedom. This idea of acceptance and being guided by it spoke to me particularly as it is often something that I struggle with and strive to be more accepting of things I cannot change. This mindset is helpful in allowing one to proceed in life without the anxiety of things that have already occured. 

Hankes also teaches about how to fix one’s mind using things like music, podcasts, and books. He says that it is important to keep a positive outlook in all things that you read and listen to. Finally he talks about how it is important to let your guard down and become susceptible to the trail and its culture. If you do not make yourself vulnerable then there is no way that you will be able to move forward. These all seem like good lessons and they make a lot of sense, but I wish that he would have gone into more detail about how his journey went along with the ways that he felt his healing. Going through the research for this project it overwhelmingly showed me that nature and the outdoors have a healing power that has been shown study after study. I think this shows that many of us need to get outside and practice outdoor activities more than we do now. While it is hard to pin down exactly why these experiences are so helpful or how exactly they work in different scenarios, it is obvious that it is something more worth putting more energy and knowledge towards. This article by Nathan Hankes was very interesting and helpful in thinking about changes to make in my life. I am also now considering trying to read one of his books in order to understand more about his experiences and how i can apply them to my life. 

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