This thread is stressful.
It’s HIKING for god’s sake.
HOW is it stressful? duh.:pimp
Butt Volcano
Mental Stress - Appalachian Trail
system
#22
Good advice, Conan.
When I’m stressed and need to calm down, I go to my perfect place. I just close my eyes and ignore everything but my thoughts, then I imagine myself in a perfect environment…with all its details.
It’s always the same place for me…lying on a moss-covered stream-bank, listening to nothing but birds and the burbling water. The only bugs are dragonflies, and the temperature is perfect for jeans and a (cotton!) T-shirt. The sunlight filters through the canopy, slanting rays playing on the surface of the stream. I’m usually chewing a weed I found a half-mile back.
I do this for ten minutes and can return to my work refreshed and ready for the next hour or two until quitting time. Pick your own perfect place, just imagine it with all its details. While you’re on the trail, it might be a warmer hike or it might be a warmer bed back home. Whichever makes you happy, imagine every little detail for a few minutes, then tell yourself you’ll get there one day. After a big meal and crawling into your warm bag, you’ll probably lose a lot of your stress, anyway.
Something else that removes my stress is to listen to my breathing. I think it’s amazing that I can hear the air go in and out, unobstructed, even though every other part of my body is full of water. Lungs are the perfect w/b material, no? Hehe…
Jeff
system
#23
I thought the government in America is supposed to be thankful for the people. “We the people”, or something of the sort. Let me know when I should bow down and kneel to our government.
Also, never stress in hiking; pain, cold, hunger maybe but never stress, never.
Siberian Khatru
system
#24
There is so much acrimony, ego, defensiveness and simplistic interpretation on these threads, it’s sickening. What a freaking waste of time.
Fiddle while your country is hijacked. Learn to speak Farsi, too, because Iran is next and our Imperial US Military will need the linguists. You read it here first, folks. YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET. HIKER TO GET STRONG FOR THE CAMPAIGN IN IRAN. Your kids will be serving there after the draft is reinstated.
All Americans hate tyranny, and Iran is a tyrannny incarnate–the next spoke attached to the axis of evil.
We will go smite them. When the Iraq elections go awry, and they will, Iran is going to take the fall for it.
THAT is stress. Hiking is not stressful. Being too stupid to know you’re stupid is the ultimate stress-free experience. Hiking is NOT stressful.
Afraid? Stressed? You WILL BE… YOU WILL BE…:lol
Skull and Bones
system
#25
yeh it’s cold outside and the natives are restless…reminds me of last year, only I am still antsy…man…my mind and body still think i am going hiking again march 1st… oh well cabin fever be damned…and maybe this year i’ll actually see ya in virginia and we can set and talk a spell.
burn
system
#26
There is a surprisingly good book by Dan Baker, a psychologist interested in wellness (as oppposed to mental illness) titled “What Happy People Know”. Read the first chapter and see if it grabs you. Essentially, it points out that experiencing strong emotions of love, gratefulness and thanksgiving are incompatible with fear, stress and unhappiness. It’s about the quality of the feeling you hold. You can be thankful for your grandmother’s love or for a warm quilt on a cold night; it’s the intensity and quality of the feelings you cultivate and hold.
One great thing about hiking is that you experience gratefulness very strongly, even for simple things, like a hot shower after a long haul. Think how good that feels! Or small acts of kindness like trail magic.
Of course, we all have reasons for these feelings every day when we think about it, and usually the reasons are much bigger than a coke by the side of the trail. We can hold thoughts of people who have loved us or helped us, we can be thankful to God for so many things too, and express it through prayer. Taking five minutes as our morning dawns in our mind, or in the shower, before meals or before bed help to develop a habit of thankfulness and happiness.
Experiment. Try it out for five minutes, and see if you agree.
Aeschylus
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#27
Thanks for the last post! I think the most important lesson I learned on the trail was how to appreciate life’s beauties and joys in the midst of adversity. Such as how to stop and take in a lovely view or chat with a fellow hiker when my feet and knees hurt like hell. Life, like the trail, is full of adversity. But it’s also full of joy. The trick is to be able to take in the joy when you’re hurt or exhausted. And gratitude is indeed a central part of that experience. And taking, as they say, one day at a time! Enjoy!
Rainbow
system
#28
I enjoyed the thoughts that Aeschylus expressed; seem to me to be largely true, no matter what you do; hiker or not. I’m kind of racked up due to a nice (not) little fall on the ice, & believe you me, at times my attitude has not been real happy. But Aeschylus reminded me to practice some good ol’ “gratitude thinking”, & oddly I did start to feel a bit better! Thanks!
Leah
system
#31
I’m Grey Fox- but I don’t remember making that post. I’ve never heard of another Grey Fox- is there one out there?
Grey Fox