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Wild Lessons

Wanting to run away from home is a common childhood fantasy but very few act on it and even fewer with any degree of success. This excerpt reads like a modern day Walden. The lessons on how to deal with lack of sleep are interesting:

..the lack of sleep starts to make me hallucinate. I hear voices, see silhouettes, sometimes I even feel as if I am flying. I am wiped out. I begin asking myself serious questions as to how this adventure is going to end.

The problem is that I never rest. During the day I look for food and build shelters to protect myself from the weather, which takes an insane amount of time. They quickly attract insects, so I have to rebuild them every day. I must adopt a more efficient way of living; there must be something I’m missing.

I find the answers by observing Daguet. Roe deer rest day and night for one- or two-hour cycles. I realise that sleeping at night isn’t compulsory, as long as you rest from time to time.

Those who live in civilization running around like a rat in the maze to check the boxes they must to be considered a "success" are also never able to rest. They may have the food and shelter covered but the time that it frees up gets occupied by other things that also take up "an insane amount of time". Maybe that is way the world is meant to work civilized or wild - rest does not come easy and must be earned painstakingly one hour at a time.



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