This video shows one of the main highlights of my whole adventure, i.e. crossing the Italian border on the Alps đ. I edited the video using the app InShot and the music ALIVE by @iksonofficial.
This trip gave me a new perspective of life and taught me a few important lessons. We often get lost in the routine of our daily lives and are either unaware or tend to forget how much there really is to experience out there in the world. We also sometimes focus and stress too much about our short-term problems and objectives while losing sight of the big picture of our lives and how insignificant we really are in the universe. Being alone in the nature and admiring stunning views along the way made me realise that there are more emotions and beauty in life to simply experience and breathe in than the ones we have grown accustomed to within the familiarity of our local castles that we tend to build in our lives as time passes and as we grow older. Over the course of my hike, I was very touched by the kindness of several people who wanted to help me out with food, water, a ride to a nearby town, directions or were simply eager to have a good conversation and ask about my journey. I learned that often a simple smile is all it takes to connect and empathize with strangers even without speaking the same language đ.
There were moments during the trip when I felt real hunger and thirst (partly because of poor planning when I started out) and moments when I was under constant pain (especially when I was still in the process of getting into shape). There were also times when I felt down and possibly at least a couple of times when I felt my mood hit rock bottom (this wasn't simply due to the trip itself but mainly to other painful personal events in my life that I had to go through earlier in the year). Some people say that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and I think that is probably true.
This adventure increased my level of physical and psychological resilience as well as my sense of self-reliance. When you have walked for hours, you are hungry, thirsty, possibly in pain and you have a few more hours to walk, there is not much time to feel down and nobody to release your frustrations on. Hence, you need to put yourself back together, sort your mind out and just keep walking, trusting that you will make it to your next destination on time. Overcoming this kind of situations increased my self-reliance and gave me a great sense of reward, empowerment and energy to keep going.
This adventure was a great experience for me and I genuinely hope that I will keep creating my chances to have other amazing experiences like this in the future. That said, what this trip also made me realise is that a solo adventure, no matter how wild, interesting and intense, might never work out as a means to pursue happiness. In fact, all those beautiful moments such as learning something new about another culture while chatting with the locals, enjoying delicious food, petting horses, cows and donkeys in the middle of the countryside, admiring the greatness of the Alps from the mountainous Swiss-French border or the beautiful sunset colours of Lake Geneva from Montreux are much more meaningful if shared with someone special. đđđ