HELP: Lost desire to hike

imported
#1

Every year at this time I’m doing things to get ready for another season in and out of the woods. However, this year is different. I’m not going.

I went on our annual hike over the Thanksgiving weekend, except I went solo. My son usually goes, but he didn’t want to go this trip. I had a horrible time. The weather turned colder than I had expected and although I was prepared for cold(three sleeping Bags)I was still cold all night. I can safely say it was the coldest night I have ever spent on the trail. The next day I was tired and cold and hurting from shivering all night. I had a feeling like something was wrong in my of trail life. I kept thinking that someone I love needed my to be there, I felt like I was being selfish by leaving my family and friends.

I ended my trip that day.

I’ve never cut a trip short before.

Since then I just don’t have the same itch to be out hiking. I’m nervous that something bad is going to happen as soon as I get 2 miles down the trail.I don’t even want to look at my pack. I have even avoided this web site.

On top of all of that, I hike in the south, Georgia and North Carolina. The murders there have me slightly nervous. Yeah, I know they caught guy, but it really makes you think. Espically since I’m a female.

The AT has been my passion for the past 10 or so years and now the passion has fizzled.

I’ve always hiked “for the smiles not the miles”, so my question is, How do I get the smiles back?

Stick Chick

#2

Dear Stick Chick,

My advice, right off the bat, would be to urge you to accept the fact that you feel as you do, and more, that it is perfectly acceptable to act in accord with your feelings.

Then,I would suggest you decide not to hike for awhile (setting at least some minimum time, like a month, to help remove your immediate conflict), decide to not feel guilty about it, and then take some time to calmly reflect about how you feel and why you feel the way you do. In time, understanding and answers will come to you.

You’ve already begun to release your reasons, your thoughts, your concerns, your fears. Now, let the rest of them come out, let everything rise to the surface. Eventually, insight will arrive, and you’ll be guided to a peaceful resolution of your situation.

Conan

Conan

#3

…that should fix you right up.

Squatch

#4

OK EASY SOLUTION. You need to be shot at sunrise to avoid this dangerous feeling from spreading to others.

actually if you dont feel the need to hike dont go. to many other things in life. Get a bicycle, take up golf, join a gym.

huff & puff

#5

Stick Chick,
I can relate to you to an uncanny level. About 3 months ago I went on a overnight trip in MA and the whole time that I was walking all I could think was “Why am I doing this?” Since that hike I havent been back on the trail. I think the long break is what has brought back my desire to hike. After a long break, I’ve got an itch worse then every before. I would suggest a long break and like Huff & Puff said, try something else for a while, I’ve been at the indoor driving range all winter. Good Luck and God Bless.

super scout

#6

“There is another call, the one that arrives the day when what once worked no longer does. Sometimes people need a shock; sometimes a tocsin call. It’s time for a wake up call. A man fired from a job; a child runs away from home; ulcers overtake a body. The ancients called this “soul loss”. Today, the equivalent is the loss of meaning or purpose in our lives. There is a void where there should be what Gerard Manley Hopkins calls “juice and joy.” The heart grows cold, life loses it’s vitality. Our accomplishments seem meaningless.”

That’s ok… do want feels good to you! forcing things makes them unenjoyable. I personally haven’t experienced this sort of soul loss… How to get back to loving the natural world…

I would recommend going in warmer weather… go to an area that you love and adore… Unaka Mountain would be one such spot for me… go with a loved one and a bottle of wine… watch the sun set comfortably nestled in the loving arms of someone close… bring a great meal for your night… listen to the sweet music of a babbling brook or a raging waterfall… or, listen to the wonderful sounds of raining bouncing off your tent/tarp… smell the beauty of the world.

“About midnight the sky cleared and stars shone as clear as gems on jet black velvet. A cold wind swept the mountain, and I shivered in spite of fire. Such a night is guaranteed to install profound respect for the power of nature and the vastness of the universe.”

Earl V. Schaffer

Blessings… ASWAH

p.s. worry not of the tragic events from Blood Mountain this year. Wipe fear from your mind and remember all those great time communing with Mother Earth…

LOVE the life you live and LIVE the life you LOVE

Peace and Happiness

aswah

#7

there is a book paw-ee and i studied a while back called “a passionate life”…in it the author described how events in our lives can be “opportunities” (rather than just more meaningless “points” on the timeline)…the greek word for “time”, (“kairos”) describes such an event as yours, chick, which is NOT a time for just moving on to the next day (“chronos”), but a time to STOP, reflect, talk it over, and (most importantly), pray…it’s a little “detour”, of sorts…a “circle” off the main path where you find a time for growth and learning…i think hikers have MANY “kairos moments” out in the woods and on the mountains!..(these moments can be “good” or “bad”)…but all should be considered important enough to at least take the time to stop and think…the events at blood mountain were very much “kairos”…how will we grow and learn from meredith emerson’s life and death (rather than go backward in fear)?..my prayer is that our Creator will “redeem” the horror of that time and place, and bring the beauty back again…there’s some awfully good advice here on this page…(aswah hit the nail on the head about the “void”…and, by the way, gerard manly hopkins is GREAT reading!)…i would add to the above advice a reading of psalm 37: 1-5…sounds like you may be on the threshhold of “another, different” kind of adventure!..blessings!

maw-ee