From KCRW, this is nocturn.

I'm from KCRW through Golden Gate Park at night. I've been camping in Tanzania and had hyenas fighting on top of me on top of my tent at night.

I've almost drowned in the sea when it's dark, but in that moment, lost in the forest, I have never been so freaked

out in my entire life. And I kept remembering that when I was a first year in college I'd taken a psychology class.

There's an exercise that the existentialist developed that they encouraged people to go into

the forest and stay there all night without any food, any water, or any weapons for protection.

And the idea is that once they emerged in the light of day,

they would know the meaning of life

and that they would feel like a pull towards what they were meant to do if they were meant for anything.

And I kept saying like, you know, something good has to come of this.

Maybe this will set us on the right track. Maybe we'll have a better idea about what we want to be doing with our lives.

Maybe we'll know what job we want because we were, you know, we were 23. Like we didn't know what we were doing. and we both started talking in this way like once we make it out of this forest I will start applying to graduate school or I will start thinking about my future a little more seriously or whatever,

because that really was scary.

More after this.

Thank you for listening to this KCRW podcast. In case you don't know us, KCRW is public radio in Los Angeles, bringing the best of NPR to Southern California. We're also known for our own brand of the bold and innovative

programming, evocative storytelling, taste-making music, and audio documentaries that are

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or make a one-time donation just to say thank you.

Find out more at KCRW.com slash join. You're listening to nocturne. I'm Vanessa Lowe.

Zoe and Sarah,

Zoe and Sarah new teachers in their early 20s, had met through a mutual friend and traveled around

Mexico for a couple of months in the summer. The trip had been fun and exhilarating. They were

...