This summer, my Spirit Animal has been the PORCUPINE !!

This summer, my Spirit Animal has definitely been the porcupine.  I had two nighttime encounters with this wise creature while solo backpacking.  The first - which I shared on Facebook in July - occurred in the Tetons.  That time, the porcupine was very aggressive and determined - over a period of 5 hours one night - to get into my tent (with me IN it!).  It eventually chewed through the wall of the tent to get to my salty hat.  The second encounter occurred in August, during a backpacking trip in the Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness.  That time, I got up in the middle of the night (as middle-aged men always do) and THERE was a porcupine, standing right by the tree I was about to water!  He slowly wandered off when he saw me, but the encounter "stuck" with me.

All my life, I've always been concerned that people like me.  As a result, I've generally agonized if I think I've communicated poorly or hurt someone.  However, I've gradually come to realize the problematic nature of that approach.  EVERY act and EVERYTHING we say as human beings - no matter HOW careful we are - is open to misinterpretation.  To live according to what finds approval in the eyes of others is NOT the way to go, I now realize.  Besides, people generally come and go in our lives.  We may be really careful to not offend someone, but then they end up moving on, anyway.  It's just the way life is in our fast-moving modern society.

This summer, the porcupine encounters have taught me to defend my soft spots and not let people get to me.  If they don't like something I do or say, oh well!  That's just the way it goes.  It's not that I now want purposely to offend others, but I no longer OBSESS over having "messed up."  Of course I still need to apologize if I've misspoken, but my attention is no longer focused on the "mess-up."

Instead, I find I've become more "prickly," saying things I believe need to be said in this age of superficial externalities, intolerance and corporate bullshit.  There's definitely some element of the "prophet" mentality needed in our time.  I know I'm not Jesus or Gautama Buddha or Martin Luther King or Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Rachel Carson, but I notice that THEY didn't care too much about what people thought of them.  They said what they felt needed saying, and were always true to their vision.

And so, I realize that it's OK to NOT be too sensitive to the "barbs" of others.  I also know - after those two porcupine encounters - that it's OK to develop a few "quills" of my own.  Life is incredibly short, and we each must follow our own unique vision and calling.  And that goes for every one of us :)