I tested myself if I could go a day without using my phone by participating on an 18-mile hike with nothing but a bottle of water – and what I discovered about myself was unexpectedly rewarding
I’m not the only one who says that I live attached to my phone and that everything I own and treasure is there. Realising that my screen time is higher than the average person’s, I wanted to prove to myself that I could go a day without it. So, when I saw the opportunity to go on a hike in the middle of nowhere with zero phone service, I couldn’t say no to it.
I wouldn’t consider myself a very sporty person, nor do I think I would have ever been interested in completing a hike by choice. With no expectations or preparations, except for a nice kit provided by Columbia Sportswear, I went for it – and let me tell you, it was so worth it.
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Hiking is nature’s therapy
Throughout the year, Columbia Hike Society hosts multiple “Hike Fests” across the world. The whole point is to walk for miles and miles until you reach your destination, where a reward awaits you.
In our case, it was an emerging duo group called Lavender Music and Bombay Bicycle Club, an English indie rock band – and of course, a beautiful beach that looked like the ones in the Almafi Coast.
We walked through fields, along coastal paths and over sand dunes to an isolated area of Anglesey, located in north-western Wales. There was something so therapeutic about listening to the wind, the birds, the waves of the sea, and even the sound of the sole of the shoe touching the rocky ground.
Hiking is an underrated activity that is both engaging and relaxing. I appreciated the silence and being fully present in nature for three hours without using my phone and without listening to music. It’s also a social media trend called ‘rawdogging’, which is a slang term is used when undertaking an activity without any assistance, preparation or comfort.
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Living in the moment
Thankfully, my friend joined the trip, which made it much more bearable, with a few laughs in between. We kept stopping to take pictures, but the insane views can’t be as appreciated through the lens as much as they are through your own eyes. Being born and raised in Barcelona, and also being used to the busy London environment, I didn’t think that the UK had the potential to be so beautiful!
Once we arrived at the beach, we sat down to eat our lunch and enjoyed performances from Lavender and Bombay Bicycle Club as the clear blue skies and sunlight graced us. That’s when I realised that I was going to wake up the next morning with a stiff body and that I was so unfit and should probably start going to the gym – but that’s another story.
What started at 10am, ended at 13:46pm, to be exact. During those long hours of non-stop walking, it gave me plenty of time to think about a lot of things, and I learnt to enjoy my own company without wanting to check my phone notifications.
I’ve also learnt to live in the moment, something we sometimes forget to do because we spend most of our time focused on what’s happening on social media and don’t look at what’s right in front of us.
But the one thing that I appreciated the most about this hiking trip was the realisation of how little we actually invest into ourselves and our well-being, and although it was my first time hiking, it will definitely not be the last one.