Drop Shock - Day 46
"Today was day one" - an "Alone" contestant said - Welcome to our 60 Day Run
As I was trying to find the topic for Day 46, I discovered that a new season had begun for one of my favorite TV shows, “Alone.” So, it is my subject. I highly recommend the History Channel original.
The first two episodes were released on June 12th, and the adventures begin with episode 2. The first one is just set up and introduces the competitors. The heart of the show begins beating once each person is dropped into Mother Nature’s playground. Here, humans join a hierarchy of life, creatures, and predators. No shelter. No food. Prey and hunter. Survival depends on skills for basic needs — sustenance and protection — but mental acuity, toughness, and fortitude will determine the winner of this psychological exploration of one’s self.
A contestant mentions the phrase, drop shock, which show producers define by way of text box as to what the term is, but suffice it to say, it’s that moment when the magnitude of what one has agreed to do hits them. And as a viewer, the shock of watching them do it, amazed or dumbfounded by it, captures your own pondering self. Together, you are now partnered with those inside the box, and emotional commonalities will be found with both human and animal feelings. Their fear or pain, love or hope.
Insightful observations while weathering unknown obstacles, with moment-to-moment decisions affecting day-to-day living, reveal each participant’s inner thinking through personal confessions to a GoPro therapist. We are voyeurs to the inner workings of the human mind, thinking and functioning in God’s untouched land.
I first wrote about this show when it was in its ninth season. I am reposting that post here today for day 46. If you haven’t seen the show, check it out. It delivers on so many pondering levels, and everyone participating grows from the experience—especially the viewer. Or so I’ve found.
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This original post was Aug. 1, 2022
Perspective
as seen through a GoPro lens of reflection
What is perspective? How is it created? What impacts it? How does it change, move or shift? How might a perspective influence decision-making? Actions? Choices? How does it evolve and, in that evolvement, affect us?
It's episode 9. Day 52 of 100. Only four people remain. Winter has come. They are Alone.
So stands the latest binge-worthy series in which Bill and I are fully vested. We anxiously await - okay, in truth, maybe just me - each new episode, and the days crawl from Friday to Friday. I'm not sure what it is about this show that has me addicted. It centers around a group of survivalists, though I don't see them as "survivalists." Maybe I've watched too many apocalyptic movies. No, these guys are more like adventurers. Lovers of outdoor activities. Respectful of Mother Nature with a deep reverence for the land. They understand the food chain and have the necessary skills to literally live green.
The task is to survive. Ten players. All of them separated by landmass or rivers, none found anywhere near another. They are experts in primitive living. Surviving the old school way – find ground, build shelter, hunt food, hibernate – for 100 days, or until the last one taps out.
We are privy to these escapades through the editing of what must be hours upon hours upon hours upon hours of GoPro diaries. I equate that little camera to Wilson, the volleyball confidant, to Tom Hank's Chuck on Cast Away. The solitude experience is the same, except not located on a tropical island; these guys are in the Arctic dropped during the mid-seasonal change of fall to winter.
Being off-grid, I imagine, is easy compared to these explorers plopped in the middle of uncharted land—the unwanted guest of untamed wildlife. They are humans disturbing a co-existing structure of life. Man and woman, pesky creatures—annoyances to God’s creations.
I believe it's this voyeuristic component that pulls you into the show. The camera is a co-explorer, assistant to the pioneer wannabe, walking side by side with them, documenting, serving as historians of the trek. It acts as our eyes and ears, a sounding board to their thoughts and ponders.
It is here these dreamers share their expectations. Speak of their hopes and life experiences that brought them to this point — at this place. It is basic, so simple. It is only them versus land. They become participants in wildlife like squirrels, rabbits, beavers, grouse, black, and/or polar bears. In the food chain, they sit three from the top, easily one of the hunted, should a bear decide to hunt.
And through it all, the GoPro records. It sits, morning, noon, and night playing therapist, always willing to listen, allowing space to verbalize, confess, share, and grow. Each night, contestants look directly into its metaphorical eye as it pretends to be their quiet, patient confidant, completely trusted until it betrays their secrets in the editing room. Then we, the watchers, become observers of their transformations. We see, in their humility, their life perspectives shift. Change from who they were upon arrival to who they are upon departure.
It's said by all that on day one, the actual test, the true challenge, is not the land or the need to seek out sustenance. It's the mind. It's the ability to survive loneliness. It is in that loneliness that the most profound spiritual work happens. Extreme conditions affect perspectives. Who is important? How important is this moment? Enough to live on the edge? To not eat and live under duress? These experiences change them, and we have a front-row seat.
Watching Alone hyper-focuses the importance of time with ourselves. Reflection is the only way to change anything we might want to change. Over nine episodes, we have seen the layers of hidden regrets, losses, secrets, and humbled egos be peeled away. Viewers relate as confessions reveal common connections. Something is shared through the screen, spirit to spirit because life is full of heart-aching commonalities.
So, here’s the ponder. How do we find time to reflect on an Alone level while living in a civilized - some might argue semi-civilized - world?
I am not suggesting we all sign up to be dropped in the middle of the Arctic with only ten items trying to live in a zero-carbon footprint. But I am offering that we should look deep into ourselves. Through meditation. Through spiritual reading. Through walks, talks, bike rides, floating on water looking to heaven, sitting in the grass, or maybe binging survival TV shows. We should seek out the adventures found in time spent alone. They are opportunities to revisit experiences and break them down into successes and failures, which ultimately influence and shape our perspectives.
“Pondering our internal thoughts cultivate our perspectives and are reflections of how they color our world and create the landscapes in which we live.” - Kim Knights
Being alone is a gift. We acquire a deeper, perhaps brutal, understanding of self and our place in Mother Nature's hierarchy as created by God. We are simple creatures. No better than the smallest of small. No stronger than the mightiest of might. The beauty of this show is the humbling of souls, the breakdown of life, and the emergence of something new. Think caterpillar to butterfly – or at least you hope that's how we manifest ourselves while alone in our reflections – we come out better, more beautiful, and offering a certain grace to the world.
Until our next ponder, be safe, stay kind, give grace and pray.
How do you find time alone to ponder your perspectives on life?
It makes me so anxious!!!!