Three Life Lessons I Learned From 'Into The Wild' | Otley Chevin

If you’ve ever watched or preferably read Into The Wild then I guarantee you that you’ve probably got some intense wanderlust going on. It’s the cult film beloved by travellers and people who feel just slightly out of place in their lives. If you’re unaware of how the story goes, it follows a young man, fresh out of college who decides to rid himself of life’s unnecessary baggage and runs away with the plan to make it to Alaska. Other than it being a dramatic plotline the story has the added appeal of being a true story about a man named Chris McCandless following any city slickers dream to escape. 

Into The Wild was never a film I had been recommended or found on many review sites. I happened across it, completely by accident, and with the cover as a man sitting atop a wrecked bus in the wilderness it was instantly something that appealed to me. This was before my days of travelling, at this time I had never even left the city I’d grown up in alone. The film is strewn with plenty of morals and life lessons, some of which affected me greatly, especially on how to live life to the fullest.

I recently went on a day trip to Otley. I'm lucky enough to only have to travel for a half hour or so to get to the small Yorkshire village. As much as I love the quaint little town it's Otley Chevin that I tend to visit. The area is strewn with rocky outcrops, thick forests and walking paths. I recommend staying there the night with an instant BBQ. Nothing beats having a sausage sandwich while watching the sunset from that view, I guarantee you.

“The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences.”
–    Christopher McCandless

Initially McCandless’ story taught me, at the most basic level, that material possessions, no matter how grand they may be, are one of the things that would least bring you happiness. In the film McCandless came from a wealthy background, never particularly hitting any struggles when it came to money or security. He gives up his trust fund, all his worldly possessions and his name, essentially becoming homeless and sets out with not a single thing to his name but the clothes on his back. This is an incredibly drastic decision, especially for someone who has the brightest future. We live in a world where we’re told that someone’s worth and success is directly related to how much they own and not who they are and what they know.

Maybe buying that piece of clothing was something that gave you a brief feeling of excitement but after a day it would lose its novelty. You could have been saving up for a car for years, and once you finally get it every time you drive it you would feel a sense of accomplishment and happiness, but for how long? Physically going out and doing something, experiencing something completely unique to you is something that can’t be bought. You can buy that bungee jump or that trip to Russia, but you can’t buy the people you meet, the memories you make and the way it makes you feel.

Why do you think so many people return their goods and try to sell them on? Would you ever do that with any of your memories or experiences? Even the bad ones?

“The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
–    Jon Krakauer, Into The Wild

Into The Wild thankfully taught me to take risks, to reject the social norm and not have to fear choosing a different path from my peers. I learnt to not worry about if things go wrong because it’s a natural and inevitable thing to happen, and when things do go wrong to embrace them and try and get it to work to your advantage. I was a notoriously careful person years ago, a perfectionist with a lot of fear for the unknown. Then one day I decided I wanted to go to Australia. While all my friends were heading to university I jumped ship and headed on an amazing trip into the unknown. I tend to have a lot of crazy plans that I don’t manage to get around to I miraculously stuck to this one.

I remember a distinct memory of being stood in the middle of Dubai Airport, the largest airport in the world, after having never flown in my life, never having been in an airport or in a different country alone, and I was completely lost. Not mentally, I genuinely had no idea how to get around and it turned out I needed to hop on a train to a completely different terminal. Mentally I felt completely at peace regardless of my predicament. I had a great problem with stress before I left England but in that airport I felt nothing but elation. That’s the moment when I believe my independence was born.

“And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness…, And this was the most vexing of all.”
–    Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zivago

Finally, and possibly the most important lesson Into The Wild taught me about life was the absolute need to have people to share your happiness with. At the beginning of the story McCandless is completely set on believing that you don’t need anyone but yourself, that God had created everything man needs for happiness within the wilderness and relationships were unnecessary. Whilst talking with an elderly gentleman he meets while travelling he tells him that the man is wrong to think that joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. Yet during the course of the film you see the various interactions with people McCandless has and how much they impact his life, and he theirs. By the end of the film he accepts, while alone, that happiness is only real when shared.

I’m an introvert, I love to stay inside and my own company is something I desire a lot of the time. However more recently I’ve noticed that no matter how content I am with being alone, nothing compares to sharing experiences with others. Some of my fondest memories are when I’m alone, but most of them are ones around family, friends and even strangers. It was difficult for me to come to terms with the idea that I need more than just myself to be happy; being fiercely independent will do that to you. But relationships and communication is something unique to us as humans, something that I believe helps us grow and essentially live. Without other people we are merely a shadow of what we could be. The experiences and achievements that we have would be pale in comparison.

Listen to Society by Eddie Vedder, a song from the movie which embodies a great deal of McCandless’ views.