There’s a rhythm to hiking, much like a rhythm to life. If the trail or life path you are on fits, it is a spiritual experience. When my own internal cadence matches the stride I have to take to safely cross the roots and rocks, it is bliss. My soul is at rest, mind and body engaged together in action, and I am with God.
I found my perfect cadence trail here in Nashville about a year ago: four miles, intense greenery, limestone formations, following the shore of a lake with a perfect high bluff to sit on a little less than halfway through. I have encountered the divine more on those four miles than anywhere else over the past year. When I park in the small lot at the trail head, my mind shifts to the cadence; being meditative and aware of who I really am, something with which I struggle, is not a challenge here.
I’ll miss this trail as much as I’ll miss everything else I love about Nashville.
Many of my worries about Texas can be summed up in the fear of missing the cadence. I approach life much like I approach a new trail: I’m awkward, easily lost, and I stumble…a lot. I struggle to find a rhythm, and without a rhythm I am a hot mess. I have a good cadence here, and I’m not looking forward to figuring out a new one. I know I will, though, and it will be good and purposeful, and I will find my rhythm…and hopefully some new trails.
Becca Kello 