To all those who decide to read this,
Thank you for taking the time out of your day, to read this letter. If you make it to the end, this letter was written for your curious, nurturing, and loving self. My name is Dalton Johnson and I am a wanderer with a camera, a pencil, and paper. Now, that may sound vague and entice you, but please understand, that means most would consider my days to be quite long and boring. Often you can find me by a river contemplating, dangling from a rope on the side of a cliff, struggling to breathe as I swim in alpine lakes, or walking for hours without an endpoint. The reason I am writing this letter is to spark your curiosity, foster your nurturing gifts, and to encourage you to spread your love.
Over the last five years, I have studied my actions, opened my heart, cried, closed my heart, and laughed. In the beginning, I thought I was lost. I did not know where I was headed, nor did I know what I wanted to do with my life. One could say I was your typical “failure to launch” or “unproductive citizen” yet nobody was guiding me. A helping hand did not look like somebody putting out their hand to lift me. Instead, a helping hand looked like Kiwi (a resident of New Zealand) offering me “biscuits and tea” because they felt bad for the guy cycling in the rain. In fact, I had been cycling for a week in the rain, but they did not know that.
As the years went on, I desperately wanted a mentor to lead me. I wanted somebody to help me along the way and guide me through this unknown world. While many gave advice, I never found that person who would take me under their wing. Emails were sent. Fourth and fifth follow up emails went unanswered. Showing up uninvited to people’s place of work, asking if I could help were rejected. Still no teacher. There came a point, I was laying in my tent, crying, as the words of all those I looked up to shared stories of mentors showing them the ropes.
Continuing down my path, I started to feel a bit insecure. I would lie to myself and built a world with blinders, telling myself that everything was going to be okay. To keep pushing and something will happen. Truth be told, nothing happened. No handouts, no fame, no wing to ease my flight. Self-help book after self-help book and motivational speech after motivational speech couldn’t solve the void I felt. Then, I gave up.
I turned my back and said, “Since everyone is too busy to help, I guess I will just do what I love and see what happens.” Turns out, when you follow your heart, the world begins to speak to you.
My wandering became focused on nature. I walked in the woods, climbed up rocks, swam in oceans. Curiosity spiked and questions about why did “X” happen, how long would it take for… to form, why do we all accept and agree to “XYZ”, and more went unanswered, but they were asked and observed. I started sitting and watching the sunset. Appreciating the smile on somebody's face as they walked past me. There was a relief that overcame me as I began to understand what I had already known as a kid. The desert flora and fauna started to show me how to survive the extremes. The forest inhabitants showed me how to balance excess and competition. The ocean and moon were experts in cycles and relationships. Fires, droughts, and floods no longer were a disaster, but an attempt to heal the wounds the earth had endured. The natural world became the teacher and mentor I had been seeking.
As the physical seasons changed around me, I could feel I was in a mental change of season. As a kid, I wanted to be a writer and travel the world, and following my heart had taken me to places I had dreamed of as a kid and allowed me to publish some of my words. While my traveling dreams as a kid were more romantic, liking riding off on a horse to see the world at sunset waving to my loved ones, the reality is my noble steed has been a bike, a car, and a couple of vans and my loved ones have been nowhere in sight as I set off midday. Instead, they all understood that I need to leave because there was something inside of me that nobody could stop without gratefully hindering both of our lives. This change in mentality brought new questions encouraged by my environment. Questions like why am I pursuing “X”, what am I willing to sacrifice to make “Y” happen, and, most importantly, how will I give back to to my teacher, Earth?
It was during this season that I began to understand myself, because I was merely a reflection of the world around me. But, how do you continue to nurture yourself if your environment is always changing? How can you be consistent at showing up and improving yourself? The answer is in the questions. Once one stops asking the questions, the nurturing stops. We are all able to reflect, but we must make time and be like the mountains. Moving slowly, but still moving. We can be like a lake reflecting the world around us because we are still, but under the surface we hold our current. To nurture ourselves takes time, patience, and continual effort. Luckily, we are social creatures and our environment is greater than the natural world.
As humans, we can converse and work together. We can show each other love and boost everyone around us. The way we present ourselves to this world is also a reflection of our environment. If we do not have time for Me, we do not have time for Others. If we continue to fill our schedules with meaningless work, we are dying inside. Our hearts can become tough, hiding us from those who want to help. From those who want to give a hand. If our pursuit is for material things, we must understand the long term effects of accumulation. Eventually, you will be so full, there is no space for perceived stillness and slow growth. Our commitments will jade us, preventing us from loving the environment we are apart. If we are a reflection of our environment, then our environment is also a reflection of us. If we exude love, then our environment will provide love.
As seasonal transformations take year after year, our effects on our environment are similar. The impact of a single generation can, and will, be felt multiple generations down the road. What we continually nurture, is what we will become. Think back to my efforts to become a mentee above. I was attempting to manifest a relationship that was only going to benefit one person, myself. I now understand why I was not mentored. If we hope to become better as a species, we must take the time to be still and think through our actions so that we may consider the lasting impacts of our actions. So, be your curious self, nurture from the heart, and encourage the spread of love amongst your environment.
Thank you for reading,
Dalton