By Mallory B. from Atlanta, GA; student on 2023 Pacific Northwest Adventure
There’s something weirdly honest about reading under a flashlight in a tent, with no notifications to hide behind. The summer before sophomore year, I went on a three-week backpacking trip in the Pacific Northwest. It was a life changing experience, not only because of the amazing views, like the top of Mount Saint Helens, but because it was the first time in a while I had nothing to distract me from myself.
Without social media, my close friends, or even a mirror, I started to discover who I was without all the outside noise. Early on, someone suggested we share the books we had brought, and we would dedicate a part of our evening solely to reading. That’s how The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ended up in my hands. Everyone had their favorite, but this one stuck with me.
Evelyn is glamorous, famous, and deeply complicated. She constantly reinvents herself. She changes her name, her identity, even hides her heritage: all to be accepted, to survive, to succeed. As I read her story in the quiet of the woods, I realized how much I do the same thing in smaller ways. I change how I act depending on who I’m with. I stay quiet when I want to speak up. I edit myself to fit into the version of me I think people will like most. But on that trip, I let go of a lot of that. I laughed without worrying how I looked, opened up without overthinking, and made lifelong friendships with people who were nothing like me.
Reading Evelyn’s story made me realize that identity isn’t about performance, it’s about honesty. Sometimes, it takes getting lost in the woods to figure out who you are.
