KJ’s Reviews > The Way of the Hermit: My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness > Status Update

“Don’t be afraid of putting that voice first, from the very moment you hear it calling out to you. The true happiness to be had from a real life lived in the real, raw world is already out there. It’s just waiting for you to pick it up and pull it deep down in your own life’s story. I’ve told you once, but I’ll tell you again: Go and do it now.”

Do not waste the opportunity offered by your good health; especially if the bad times have already come to pass and can't be changed now anyway. Get right on proving to yourself that no matter what happens you will always find a way back from true adversity [...] That is the way of the hermit.

Count yer blessings, Ken. Then count yer bleedin' toes.

Stupid hikers.

but today, most humans, and especially those who live in the Western world, can easily go their entire lives without ever realizing quite how fragile and feeble we really are, especially when held up against the apex predators of the wider natural world.

"In terms of animals, you are far more likely to be killed by bees than bears, and over half the deaths in the wilderness are caused through either falling, being trapped in an avalanche, drowning, or simply getting lost and then subsequently dying from heatstroke, hypothermia, starvation, or dehydration."

"Booze, gambling, junk food, drugs or smoking, all just to mask the tedium, while accelerating us closer to the grave, deepening our depression, and stealing away the simple joys of being alive." Ken Smith