While working on a Masters in Education I did a research project to determine the different ways a person develops on a long distance wilderness journey with a group of people. I interviewed ten people, asking them to categorize the different ways they developed, and came up with five categories: physical, conceptual, emotional, social and spiritual.
I covered physical in the last post. The different ways that a person learns and develops new concepts on any journey is too lengthy and, hopefully, too obvious to address. Emotional development occurs through the self-reliance and self-discovery that occurs. When done with a group the same type of social learning occurs for modern nomads as for earlier versions. Finally, spiritual development occurs through all the beauty and magnificence one observes on such a journey.
Speaking of journeys, I have another one planned, to begin in 2015. In the meantime this will be a good opportunity to review the kindness observed and lessons learned from the last journey along the American Discovery Trail.
