This past summer, my brother and I went canoeing in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. We were 60 miles from the nearest town, 55 miles from the nearest cell service and five miles away from any other human. The only sounds audible were the waves on the lake and the calls of an occasional loon flying by. The following quote from The Power of Silence by Robert Cardinal Sarah echoed true: “Silence is not an absence. On the contrary, it is the manifestation of a presence, the most intense of all presences. … The real questions of life are posed in silence. Our blood flows through our veins without making any noise, and we can hear our heartbeats only in silence.” —Michael Pajor, MD, PGY-II, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis

Photo by Brian Hilands, DO, PGY-III

Wellness and mental health come from achieving balance in life. In the emergency department, having to make critical decisions on patients’ life-threatening conditions places you on one extreme of the spectrum. The wilderness is my way of finding the antidote to this stress and the harmony needed to feel balanced. The outdoors allows me to reset and to just be. It gives me the opportunity to connect to a cosmic perspective and to be at peace with existing in the world. Because of this, I can proceed without self-criticism and be okay with the flow of nature and life itself. Once I find this harmony, I am refreshed and grounded and am better able to treat my patients holistically. —Brian Hilands, DO, PGY-III,

Inspira Health Network, New Jersey

Photo by Jeannie Kuang-Nguyen, MS4

During lockdown, I began exploring film photography and the city I grew up in. I started spending more time in nature, hiking and hanging from trees. These past years have been tough on us. We live in a society that is fast-paced; society often goes on without us. We are told that time is precious and limited, so we should make the most of it and accomplish as much as we can. But in doing so, many of us lose sight of the importance of being present. So, this past year, I learned the importance of slowing down. —Jeannie Kuang-Nguyen, MS4, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock

I was in the mountains of the Peruvian Andes, two days into the Salkantay Trek. We had woken early that morning to begin the short day hike up to Humantay Lake, and I was thinking about my grandmother. Thousands of miles away from my family, it was difficult to comprehend that this fierce, independent, fiery woman, who had made a life out of saying no to gender roles and yes to adventure, was no longer here.