Walden

Walden details Henry David Thoreau’s two-year stay in a self-built cabin by a lake in the woods, sharing what he learned about solitude, nature, work, thinking and fulfillment during his break from modern city life.

Every year some weird escapist ends up on television, telling everyone how he survives off chewing bark in the woods and why that’s the path to enlightenment. Even back in 1845, Thoreau faced similar reactions, even though he never took his “sabbatical” to such extremes. He simply wanted to reconnect with life in a deeper, meaningful way. His goal was to spend as much time on reading, thinking and writing as he could.

To achieve this, he focused on covering four basics of life: food, shelter, clothing and keeping his fireplace alit with wood. After building his cabin and acquiring functional clothing, he spent most of his non-recreational time garnering water, wood and food. You’d think all that must get lonely, but Thoreau never felt that way.

First, he found he could just immerse himself in nature for hours, for example by sitting outside on his char and listening to the birds and natural sounds all around him. Second, many of the animals eventually approached him and he even had mice sitting on his table having dinner beside him, keeping him company. Lastly, many friends and passers-by stopped to join him for a meal and a few hours of conversation.

Today we’re more bombarded with activities than ever. If you crave a break from that and just want to be alone for a while, or even most of the time, remember: it does not mean you’ll end up lonely.

As you’d expect, winter became the most challenging time for Thoreau. He had to build a chimney for proper ventilation and keeping fires burning, insulate the walls of his cabin and break the ice of the frozen lake to gather water. His simple tasks remained the same, but they became a lot more challenging in this season of his life. We don’t need to artificially complicate our life when it feels easy. It’ll throw us obstacles soon enough.

Interestingly, this increase in difficulty only made his work more rewarding. The soaked timber from the lake burned longer and created more steam, which kept his cabin well-tempered and his home-cooked bread and meat seemed to taste sweeter. When your work has a purpose, its merits increase with every challenge.

There’s no need to artificially try and construct that.

Just like winter made Thoreau’s life harder, spring brought about a transformative experience of natural wonders. Sitting on his chair, he got to watch the ice melt, the lake refill, the grass turn green and the animals awake from…