The Easy Path

My family and I (Annette) have taken up hiking this year and have set out on a variety of day trips seeking adventure and new sights. Admittedly, my ideal hike was been one that has a very nice, defined path, not a lot of hills, does not involve me getting wet or dirty, and passes through lots of unique and exciting landscape...throw in a waterfall and that’s my version of a perfect hike.

The pursuit of a waterfall recently brought us to Matthiessen State Park in Illinois. When our hike started with what felt like an endless set of stairs and then another, I was mentally bemoaning that this was not meeting my expectations of an ideal hike. As I began to examine my expectations, I stopped in my tracks and the realization that if there’s such a thing as a privileged or entitled hiker — I was definitely it (Realization — Ouch!)

I wanted all of the benefits and beauty of hiking and the ability to have all of those things without any of the hardships of rough terrain along the way. Essentially, I wanted the ability to pick the easiest path to the greatest destination. The harder realization is that so many of us want that in life, not just hiking, myself included at times.

Determined not to be that hiker today and not to let my excited family down, I pressed on. As I continued to navigate over narrow and winding paths covered with tree roots and over slippery stepping stones, trying desperately not to fall into the water, I couldn’t help but think of the young adults that we walk along side, at Narratives. So many of them have struggled down far worse paths in life and often, not by their own choosing, but rather by being abandoned and forced to navigate life alone.

As we continued our hike, we did encounter beautiful rock formations and waterfalls that we would have never seen on the “easy” path. And on quite a few occasions I needed the help of my husband to jump over and climb up formations along the path. I especially needed help as we climbed up a multilevel waterfall. Upon reaching the top and looking back on what I had climbed, I felt the sense of pride and excitement that only an out-of-shape, middle-aged woman can when achieving such a silly accomplishment.

I had two thoughts up there. 1) If this is my excitement at climbing up a little waterfall, imagine the pride and joy that comes when one of the young adults in our programs finishes their education, or obtains stable employment or secures safe housing for him or herself and 2) we all need a little help from others on the path life. The at-risk young adults in our program are entitled to these same opportunities for accomplishments in their lives.

At the end of the hike, I’m confident that I shouldn’t quit my day job to become a trail guide, but I am positively certain that I’m called to help at-risk young adults navigate the hard and difficult paths in their life, so that their stories include wonderful destinations, like - empowerment, self-sufficiency, safety, and security.