A few weeks ago, I spent a Friday finishing off the twenty five geocaches that make up the Warren County Conservation Board’s geocaching adventure just south of my home county here in my little swath of the Midwest. That day, I had hiked the equivalent of six miles. The final geocache was an unpublished one, which meant it didn’t count towards my numbers on the app, but I wanted to get it nevertheless. Armed with what I thought were the coordinates, I hiked yet another half mile to a stump that looked promising. A half hour later and a through comb of every possible hiding place within one hundred feet of the stump and a phone call later, I discovered that I had been accidentally given the wrong coordinates and that the final (again unpublished) geocache was actually a good quarter mile away from me as the crow flies. A marsh and two ponds separated me from my destination. My car, which I could use to get a few hundred feet from the new location, was also on the other side of a steep hill (since even though most people think Iowa is flat…. it is actually full of Knob and kettle topography).
Part of me wanted to give up. It was getting late, after all. I had already hiked over six miles that day and was exhausted. I needed to go to a few stores on my way home, since dinner couldn’t make itself and I was working on another project that needed some new beads. My legs were aching, my knee was aggravated, and I was hungry, since I had burned off the snacks I had already brought. I doubted myself and was listening to the small voices in my head that told me that I shouldn’t do this. I should just give up. I was being an inconvenience. It would be an accomplishment very few others would care about.
But I also knew that I would be the first person to find and sign this unpublished geocache. That little fact was the little carrot that made up my mind for me.
So, I put one foot in front of the other. Despite the sore legs and the knee that continued to remind me that it didn’t want to work right and the exhaustion and hunger, I trudged back up the hill and got in my car and drove over to the new location. A few minutes later, I had the unpublished geocache in hand and put my geocaching signature on it.
And of course, I took a picture of the Squisheys with it.
When I realized I had received the wrong coordinates, I could have given up. The Nature Center where the Warren County Conservation Board is housed was getting ready to close up for the weekend. I didn’t want to bother those working there with something so inconsequential. I hate inconveniencing others if I can help it. But then, I realized that if I hadn’t called and let the staff know, someone else would have had the same issue, since the coordinates were still wrong. My calling them almost at closing time did not inconvenience anyone….. in fact, it helped work the snafu out. Others wouldn’t have the same issue if they decided to go for the final geocache.
Life works out magically sometimes.
I am in the midst of my forties and am learning to undo some of the mentalities that I have. I hate making people wait because impatient people made an impression on me in the past that dawdling even for a moment was something never to be done. I hate inconveniencing others because I was taught long ago that I needed to always learn to fend for myself. I don’t share all of the things I have accomplished because I have been told “don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back” or “it’s not as great as you think it is” one too many times. As a result, I often see a number of things with blinders on until hindsight makes them clear. Sometimes, I tend to learn to do without because asking for help or making others wait for me to decide or do….. well, it’s easier.
But I have patient people now in my life who have taught me and are still teaching me that I can take time for myself and advocate for myself. They remind me that they can wait. They tell me that I am not an inconvenience no matter how mush my mind thinks I am. They remind me that I can be proud of myself for my accomplishments, no matter how silly they may be.
That being said, since I am reteaching myself to shout from the rooftops and be myself in every way that counts…. here are some of the accomplishments I have achieved this year so far.
The other half and I also celebrated our twentieth anniversary just a week ago. It’s not a wedding anniversary (that will happen next year)…. but we have been a COUPLE for twenty years now. I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else by my side either.
I celebrated five years of employment at the current full time job (I still don’t share what I do. It’s just a thing. But I have been there now five years and still love working there!) It’s crazy that I wrote this post about that job well over four years ago…
In terms of geocaching, besides being the first to finish that little adventure from the Warren County Conservation Board, I have accomplished a great deal as well this year in terms of caches found, adventures had, challenges completed and varying degrees of difficulty/terrain ratings being filled in. But I know I couldn’t have done even half of what I have adventure wise without the wonderful village of friends who are just as crazy (if not crazier) than I am. The list of goals I wrote out in December of 2025 with the intention of completing at the end of this year…. well, let’s just say I have to already write out new goals since most of them are already done. With each adventure I take, more and more is accomplished, just as more and more of myself is being retaught.
It’s fine to reteach yourself, no matter how old you are. It’s fine to be that crazy, kooky, unique person you were meant to be. Let the voices that spoke up about you in the past be damned. Be inconvenient. Be proud. Be willing to dawdle when you need to. Make noise. Rock the boat. And learn that the best parts about you are magical when you reteach them.
Stay magical, friends.
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K. S. Wood Writes 