Blog #679: Caught in His Storm

When I head out on a hike…

I’m never thinking about looking GQ.
But I never thought I looked homeless…either.

Until the day someone thought I was.

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Huh?

Yep.

Recently, while on a hike, someone thought I was homeless.

Here’s the funny/not funny story.

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Last week…

After some enormous rains and not being able to get outside to exercise for a couple of days, I jumped on the chance to get my “hike on” and hit the trail when the sky cleared.

Usually when I hike…

I stay on the dirt trails because they connect me more to nature. This time, however, I walked mostly on the bike trail to avoid the sloppy mud.

When I hike…

I always carry a small book-sized backpack on my shoulders. It weighs roughly 15+ pounds, and it keeps my body accustomed to carrying weight. It’s my intention to walk across another country in 2025, so I need to keep my legs and shoulders used to feeling the…extra.

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On the day of this story…

I was walking on my side of the bike path when I saw a couple of bicyclists coming my way. I hugged the road shoulder tightly as they approached.

But…

I wasn’t looking up when one of the two riders leaned in and bumped me hard with his shoulder as he rode by. It had been on purpose that he hit me.

Shocked…

I yelled over my shoulder as the bicyclist rode away, “What the…!”
His loud and angry shout back to me was, “Get a job!”

“Huh?!” I shouted loudly to myself.

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I came to an immediate conclusion.

“The dude thinks I’m homeless!”

I did some quick dot-connecting as I irritably continued walking.

1. Homeless people live in the trees near the path. (The area is close to town, and, I sense, it allows more privacy and less scrutiny.)
2. It was 2:30 on a Friday afternoon…and he assumed I didn’t have a job.
3. I was carrying an old backpack that he thinks carried my “world.”
4. I was wearing a faded Muir Woods hoodie and trail-muddied sweatpants.
5. The afternoon shadow that was walking in front of me showed my hair ridiculously flying from having just removed the hoodie from my head.

His brain didn’t register: “Serious exercise guy…taking the afternoon off.”
His brain instead registered: “Homeless guy…without a job.”

Sheesh.

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That got me connecting a few more dots.

Hitting me with his shoulder?
His barbed assumption?
His harsh attitude?

The guy was probably carrying an invisible “backpack” of anger.

I’d hate to be carrying his “backpack.”

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Bad energy.

I believe when we start tossing it freely and without control into the universe and to others, it’s a reflection of the bad energy we’re carrying on our insides.

I think this guy was living extra pissed, and uncontrollably, he was letting his internal anger fly wildly into the outside world.

I just happened to get caught in his storm.

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But you know…

There is a ton of positive in this story.

I take his actions as a warning.

If we find ourselves constantly getting mad at customer service reps, yelling at other drivers, looking every day for something to whine about in the news, and constantly throwing negative energy at our friends, family and co-workers… perhaps it’s a warning for us to get our act together.

On the inside.

When the person in the mirror looks sad and angry…so will the world.

May we walk with harmony.

And when we know we’re not…

May we have the self-awareness to guard our words and actions closely.

S.

(Audio version)

You’re Not the Weather—You’re the Sky.

Let Caught in His Storm serve as a reminder—you don’t have to lose yourself in someone else’s struggle.