I Took a Solo Journey for Self-Discovery to the Arctic Circle

The phrase I would use to explain my life is “loud.” I work in tv and reside in Los Angeles, and my days are soundtracked by a relentless pinging of textual content messages and honking of visitors. In January of 2022, I spotted the exterior noise was so loud that I used to be not listening to my internal voice—my private desires and desires. To alter that, I made a decision to journey solo to a spot that might assist me decelerate and give up to being within the second. Quickly, I used to be boarding a airplane with a 25 liter backpack stuffed to the brim with winter gear to protect myself from the freezing temperatures of Arctic Alaska.

Days earlier than embarking on my Arctic Circle journey, I used to be roaming a bookstore and opened a workbook about self-awareness. I froze after studying a number of of the questions it asks to assist the reader introspect: “What are your values?” “What do you worth in others?” “What are you unwilling to tolerate from others?” I felt fully unable to reply the questions, which made me notice that I wanted to convey the ebook on the journey. I did not understand it on the time, however I used to be about to take a crash course in studying to facilitate self-love and develop instruments to construct a powerful relationship with myself.

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Freed from all of the distractions of my typical every day life and really restricted Wi-Fi and cell reception, Coldfoot, Alaska was the proper location for me to deal with my relationship with myself. Simply north of the Arctic Circle, Coldfoot sits close to the doorway of Gates of the Arctic Nationwide Park and is immediately underneath the aurora oval, making it one of many world’s finest viewing areas for the aurora borealis (or the northern lights). The one skyline you may see on this a part of the world is the Brooks Vary, which spans 700 miles throughout Alaska and Canada.

After taking a 200-mile bus journey to the Arctic Circle monument signal, I transferred to an awaiting cargo van. It will be my chariot for the 60 mile drive north to Coldfoot alongside a two-lane filth highway that was blanketed with snow and ice. “So, nobody is simply too rooster to proceed north, huh?” the driving force stated with a smile. The headlights of the cargo van forged a highlight into the darkish evening, illuminating the vacant lands of Arctic Alaska like a lighthouse’s beacon makes the waves of an open sea glisten. It could have been the closest I’ve ever felt to being misplaced at sea, bodily and emotionally.

That night, an area resident took a gaggle of 5 of us to a distant cabin to look at the northern lights. As picturesque as this sounds, I rapidly realized this exercise requires endurance. A lot of endurance. The northern lights come and go as they please, adhering to nobody’s schedule. Once I realized we might be there for five-plus hours, I felt my chest tighten. I stepped outdoors the cabin within the hopes {that a} deep breath of recent winter air would assist me shake my temper.

The silence of the evening amplified the sharp crunch of the snow beneath my heavy boots. After the sound caught my consideration, I continued to give attention to it. My shoulders started to drop as I continued to stroll the property. I quickly pulled my scarf beneath my chin to really feel the Arctic wind in opposition to my face. When the coolness started to sting my uncovered pores and skin, I walked towards the outside hearth and shifted my consideration to the crackling and popping of the hearth. The extra I centered on the weather that made up the atmosphere round me, the extra current I turned within the second.

As an alternative of experiencing the northern lights by the filter of my cellphone’s display, I stood in awe as I watched a palette of greenish-blue gentle swirl throughout the evening sky.

Because the northern lights started to appear, I stood in silence, relishing the sequence of its dance and felt grateful I didn’t have entry to Wi-Fi to share this second in actual time. As an alternative of experiencing this by the filter of my cellphone’s display, I stood in awe as I watched a palette of greenish-blue gentle swirl throughout the evening sky.

I challenged myself to reside within the second once more the subsequent day throughout an “Arctic Safari” by the Brooks Vary. As we waited for an Arctic sundown to seem, our information pulled out a saucer sled from the again of our cargo van. I could not bear in mind the final time I would gone sledding. As a child who grew up within the suburbs of Toronto, there was nothing I cherished greater than racing down snowy hills on a sled every winter. The sight of that saucer sled made me giddy with pleasure. I felt my internal youngster rising to the floor.

As I jumped on the sled and pushed myself over the sting of the hill, I paid consideration to the sensation of the frigid Arctic wind urgent in opposition to my face and brushing by my hair. My physique felt dizzy with pleasure because the saucer sled started to spin like a carousel down the hill.

Once you reside within the second and recognize the wonder round you, time is irrelevant.

Dizzying pleasure shifted to quiet-minded presence as we watched the sundown. The signature of an Arctic sundown is a wealthy layer of purple slowly revealing itself like brushstrokes of a portray. I do not know the way lengthy our group stood there, basking within the colours of the sundown’s canvas. It did not matter. Once you reside within the second and recognize the wonder round you, time is irrelevant.

I spent my evenings at my lodging, Coldfoot Camp, returning to the questions of the self-awareness workbook I introduced with me. “What are your values?” “What do you worth in others?” “What are you unwilling to tolerate from others?” As soon as intimidated by these questions, solutions immediately started to stream into my journal.

By studying learn how to be within the second and take away distractions throughout my journey, I used to be in a position to strip away my insecurities and be susceptible sufficient to discover my emotions. I used to be in a position to take stock of how I used to be feeling and decide why I used to be feeling that method.

I then drew clear boundaries for myself. I eliminated sure folks from my life. I outlined what I used to be unwilling to tolerate from others, and even from myself. Within the 12 months for the reason that stillness of Arctic Alaska led me on a path of self-discovery, the outcomes of not solely setting, but additionally upholding my boundaries have develop into clear: They’ve stuffed me with a higher sense of self-respect, which in flip, has led to elevated confidence. Most significantly, after I developed a powerful relationship with myself and facilitated self-love, the positivity of my private relationships, ambitions, and achievements solely amplified, mirroring the love and respect I’ve for myself.

I made a sketch of a fort, moat, and drawbridge in my journal on that evening in January 2022. I now see boundaries as if they are a moat and a drawbridge round a fort. The fort represents confidence and self-love. The boundaries we set are the moat and drawbridge that shield the fort. Whom and what we enable to move by the moat and drawbridge form the state of our psychological well being, {our relationships}, and total high quality of life.

Now pinned to a bulletin board in my workplace, this sketch will not be solely a memento from my time within the Arctic Circle, but it surely additionally serves as a every day reminder that an important relationship in my life is the one I’ve with myself.