Splash No. 66
Mountains
On Monday morning, I woke up at 4am and hopped in my friend’s car. We drove 2 hours north to the Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the state of Georgia, intending to see the sun rise among the North Georgia mountains. Unfortunately, the fog was so thick that we couldn’t even find the short trail from the parking lot to the observation deck atop the mountain.
The whole thing was atypical. Most people don’t decide to spontaneously wake up at an ungodly hour and dedicate themselves to several hours of driving on a random weekday. It was especially atypical for me, someone who loves to know all the details of a plan before going anywhere. Since I never really leave the comfort of cities, the concept of going into the mountains was completely foreign and terrifying to me. The complete ambiguity about our journey was the opposite of what I was used to and the sheer novelty pushed me to go. I wanted to fight against my fears and do something different.
Despite the fact that we couldn’t see the sunrise, we could still revel in the natural beauty of the mountains. I marveled at the vistas of farms and barns in valleys that I thought only existed in far-off lands. I reveled at the eerie atmosphere created by the fog surrounding the trees, diffusing any light into an even sheen. The entire experience felt like a long vacation away from the speed and worries of my life. A freeing moment.
Throughout my life, my actions have been dictated by my fears and anxieties. For most of high school, I didn’t have much of a social life. I would come up with a million things that could go wrong for every possible plan or hangout that I was invited to, stuck in a spiral of negative simulations. To avoid all of the stress and confusion, I just did what was easier: watching YouTube at home and maintaining friendships purely electronically. Although I’ve grown significantly since then and have learned to cope with my anxieties enough to socialize regularly, I’m not free of my fears. Perhaps wading back into the fog and the unknown a few more times wouldn’t be such a bad first step.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Article
“Home is a Mug of Coffee” by Candace Rose Rardon - I shared the prequel to this piece in my second ever newsletter, and 64ish weeks later, I’m sharing this one! Both are beautiful visual essays that make me want to see the world to “find myself”
Film
Train to Busan - saw this Korean zombie movie last week. It’s absolutely brutal, with an incredible performance by Kim Su-an, who would’ve been 7 or 8 when the film was shot.
Playlist
charged up - playlist of electronic music that I just started working on. I’m trying to return to this genre of music that I loved so much in high school but I now feel disconnected form.
Thanks so much for reading! If you have any comments/concerns or fan/hate mail for me, you know how to reach me (links below).
Love,
Nikhil