Just do it

I've always had a companion while hiking and though I had mentally prepared for solo hikes upon getting to Hawai'i (I mean, that was kind of the point in choosing this location) I felt a tug of resistance today.  I couldn't pinpoint whether the hesitation was due to fear (it was sprinkling a bit so what if it rained? what if my phone runs out of battery and I don't know how to get back? what if I spend forever trying to find the entrance? what if I don't like hiking by myself???)  But instead of listening to that tug, I pushed myself and thought of every reason why I should just do it.  

I mean, this view was worth it.

But first, rewind.  So after my morning ritual 😋 I packed my stuff and rented a Biki and biked towards Diamond Head Crater.  Nearly there, I stopped to walk my bike across a busy street with a cross walk and no traffic light (just in case since I'm a not-so-experienced biker).  As I was about to hop back on the bike after getting across the street, I (luckily) noticed some shit on my seat.

No, I mean it... SHIT ON MY SEAT.  A fucking bird pooped inches away from my head.  I had a split second of doubt thinking, "is that dried up poop and I just didn't notice I was sitting on it this whole time?" ...so I touched it.  YEAH, I TOUCHED IT.

...definitely fresh.

So instead of riding the last 20 minutes to the starting point of Diamond Head, I parked the Biki into a nearby station and walked the rest of the way.  Damn you, bird.

The actual hike itself was easy with switchbacks that weren't actually steep at all.  I laughed thinking about the time I did Kokohead and how nothing could be worse than the stairmaster of hell - I'll do that one later this week 😲

 

When I reached the top, I found a quiet spot to sit and did my daily meditation.  Today's theme was "Letting Go" and how perfect it was that I had the wind and ocean sound to help me with such a release.  On top of that, I had brought my paints so I took my time to do a watercolor.  The inspiration behind this were the colors of the ocean, the overcast sky, and the earth as I've been feeling more grounded since I've arrived to Hawai'i.

Despite my poor attempts to paint while keeping my wits together what with the high winds, I really relished in being still and not rushing to get back down after reaching the top (as I so often do after reaching the peak of a hike).  Enjoying it solo was a different experience as well which I enjoyed and I'm glad I got over whatever it was that was making me feel nervous about just doing it.

My phone was at 10% unfortunately, so though I had originally wanted to bike back to my Airbnb, I was afraid I'd get lost and wind up in loco land.  As such, I called an Uber and guess what... I got matched with ROLLN (refer to previous post). I got into his car we both had a good laugh about the likelihood of us getting paired with each other again - especially because when we had gotten Ono Seafood together, I had told him that I was going to try and do Diamond Head.  Ha!

What a funny day.

Ps: I just noticed that I also got the stupidest sunburn... lesson learned - facepalm -