My Extended Experience

 

There has been a major trend over the past year where people were going on what they call “hot girl walks”. These were extended walks to get some exercise in, step away from their busy day-to-day activities, and decompress to focus on their mental health. I never have done a hot girl walk, so for my extended nature experience I decided it was time to put them to the test. I walked all around Fort Worth for almost three hours one evening this fall to experience the nature around me that I often overlook. I was inspired by our class discussion about how to walk properly, so I took this discussion and walked with it.

The first thing I noticed was the trees outside. This has been the best fall I have experienced in Texas because the trees have been so beautiful this year. Their colors have been so vibrant and unique, as no two trees were the same shade. Some were still green, some were a vivid red, some were a soft orange, some were a bright yellow, and some had already lost all their leaves. I began to ponder on why this fall is different than the previous ones, and I believe it is because Texas was not hit with a flash freeze yet this year; the flora generally dies so quickly due to the high fluctuations in temperature, but we have not experienced too extreme of changes this year. I took time to thank God for designing this year’s fall in this manner because every tree I passed made me stop and stare. His creation is beautiful, and He was showing off on my hot girl walk.

When I stopped to look at the trees, I took note of how the sun was shining on them. Sometimes the sun was playing peek-a-boo with me through the pretty leaves, flickering its light through the branches. Sometimes the sun shone a spotlight on the trees to illuminate their beauty and fully display the vibrant colors of the leaves. Sometimes the sun would be standing to the left side of the tree to cast a long shadow to the right side of the tree; the left side of the tree would be brightly colored and lit up and gradually get dimmer and more muted as I looked towards the right side of the tree. I applaud the sun’s hard work and dedication to make sure the trees get seen—its effort is greatly appreciated and not left unnoticed.

I was not alone in my walk with the trees. I walked in on two squirrels “fighting” in the grass, tossing up the leaves around them. They were making noises and chasing each other around the lawn and eventually up a large tree with bright orange leaves. It is simply their time of the year, so I think it is safe to say that they were more excited about the changing leaves than I was. I decided I would let them have their privacy, so I kept going on my hot girl walk.

About twenty minutes later I was greeted by another creature. This time, it was a ladybug that was on my chest. I do not know when it landed on me—she could have been there for 1, 5, 10, 30 minutes at this point. I said hello to her, and she crawled onto my hand. She was calm and collected, not scared of me at all. She walked down my pointer finger, around my thumb, and onto my hoodie sleeve. Twisting and turning around my arm, she started on a hot girl walk of her own. She blended in with my red hoodie but also the red leaves around us, pointing out just how red the wilderness was around us at that moment. She told me she left on her curling iron back home, so she fluttered her wings and flew away in a hurry. I said goodbye and continued my hot girl walk.

I was staring up at the yellow leaves above me as I walked below a shade tree, and I made a small slip on a bundle of leaves on the sidewalk. No worries, I recovered without falling, but it quickly drew my attention from the sky and onto the ground. I could not find the sidewalk. It was gone, completely covered in leaves! I first was annoyed because I almost wiped out on the side of the road, but then I started to take the experience in. I personified the shade tree with the yellow leaves above me and found humor in it distracting me while making me slip on its leaves. I also saw it as the tree fighting to reclaim the wilderness. The manmade sidewalk was placed below its branches and close to its roots, making the tree understandably angry. So, the tree did what it could to reclaim the land: it covered the sidewalk up with its leaves! I saw the line separating society and wilderness here, and more specifically I saw the battle they have between each other.

I then turned onto University Drive, which was the busiest street I walked on during this hot girl walk. It was loud, as cars zoomed by not only me, but the overlooked wilderness around me. I watched as Range Rovers, Audis, Mercedes, etc. drove by, disregarding the beauty around while the leaves on the road chased after them. I found this to be poetic as it looked like nature itself was chasing after man. It is easy to find wilderness in Fort Worth, so why do we not take note of it? Especially during such a beautiful Texas fall? I think nature is yearning for us to take note of it, and the leaves are proof of that.

In the final moments of my hot girl walk, I got to take note of the sun setting around. It brought in new colors to the landscape: pinks and blues. Just as the leaves change during the year, the sky changes during the day. I think change is a beautiful thing, letting me see why hot girl walks have been such a fad recently. It allows us to step away from the chaos of our current environment to examine how much we have changed as people. I sorted out many things that have been on my mind for weeks, pointing myself to how I should change for the future. Some of these changes resembled the sunset, as they are changes I made that night, but some changes resembled the leaves, as they will take some time and be gradual. I really enjoyed my hot girl walk, and I, again, thank God for this Texas fall.