Two words spray-painted on a slab of decaying concrete, half-swallowed by ivy and Oregon damp. A warning, a prophecy, or maybe just the ramblings of some woodland philosopher with a twitchy finger on a can of black Krylon. Either way, it hits you like a roadside omen. One of those cryptic messages the universe coughs up when you’re deep in the wild and running on caffeine, trail dust, and whatever questionable decisions brought you there in the first place.

I found this chunk of concrete sagging under the weight of an old bridge overhead, a forgotten piece of infrastructure clinging to relevance. The forest was already working it over, ferns creeping up the base, brambles threading through the cracks, vines dragging their green fingers across its face like they were trying to soothe a tired relic. And right there, in the middle of nature’s slow reclamation, someone had the audacity to spray a commandment across its chest: DON’T PANIC.

As if that ever worked.

But I’ll be damned if it didn’t stop me in my tracks. There’s something pure about it, no fluff, no apologies, no enlightenment pamphlet attached. Just the raw instruction, like the world looking you dead in the eye and saying:

Take a breath. Grip the wheel. Keep going.

Out here, surrounded by the overgrown green, camera in hand, boots caked with mud, it felt almost ceremonial. A reminder carved into concrete that no matter how chaotic the world gets, no matter the noise in your head or the storm on the horizon. You can still plant your feet, inhale the wild air, and carry on without losing your soul to the static.

Maybe that’s the whole secret to survival: keep walking, keep shooting, keep living… and try not to lose your cool when everything around you feels like it’s vibrating off its axis.

So here it is, my roadside gospel of the day:

If you stumble across a message painted on a crumbling wall in the middle of nowhere, don’t ignore it.

The forest has a strange way of telling the truth.

DON’T PANIC.

Not because things aren’t insane,

but because panic never saved anyone.