Pre/post delima

imported
#1

I’ve got to admit, I started reading the people who got off the trail section journals. And I’ve also spent a lot of time reading Post hike journals. there seems to be a delima, and i wish to avoid as much of the mental mind wash as possible.

what i discovered thru my limited peabrain study is, there is great expectation of what is out there, the reality is anything but what was expected and sometimes far surpasses the dream only briefly, then the shock of society/percieved pressures/timelines set by others. all amount to expectations…real or imagined.

have i stated this correctly and how do you overcome the false perceptions of what the long distance hike holds, and overcome the post “baby blues”?

my “Backpacking” therapist said get it out of my system. she really backpacks. but she doesn’t get it. as I posted in my 2004 journal, I want “it” in my system every day. Now, during and after my hike.

maybe I am mental after all…awwww, acceptance, the first sign of a recoverying backpacker.

Burn

#2

There is NOTHING I’d rather do than long-distance hike. I think about past and future hikes every day.

I can’t walk a long trail in the winter and I have to make money sometime, so the winter months are spent trapped in what others refer to as the “real world”. The only way to get through this is to make sure you get contact information (phone numbers and email addresses) of all your buddies while you are on the trail. Then, when it’s a cold day in November and you’re thinking about the trail, you can call the thru-hiker hotline.

yogi

#3

Hiking helps me maintain my physical and mental well being in civilized society. Without being able to get out on the trail often, which I do, I would go obese and mentally break down.

I want and need to sweat, to climb mountains, to be a part of it and it a part of me. Without it, I am not complete.

So hike and hike often, as often as you can. We must all come back to civilized land for all kinds of reasons. But being out there makes us so much better off when we do come back.

And for those that just don’t get it, you should feel great loss and sorry for them. For they are missing one of the most special and wonderful things in the world.

See you out there. :cheers

Maintain

#4

At the Gathering this year the Class of 2003 said the biggest thing to watch out for was expectations. If you have too many of them you can create lots of mental anguish.

how do you overcome the false perceptions of what the long distance hike holds?

Start now, letting go of expectations in your everyday life. Setting expectations is a habit, one that will take some time to unwind. Practice accepting the moment fully as if you created it all yourself – yes even the bad stuff.

and overcome the post “baby blues”?
This is the tough one. I’ll be journaling on this as i hike. Since we exist truly as creatures of our minds, things happen in a logical step-by-step fashion. This imprints a bunch of linkages in our set of rules we each live by. An example of a linkage is: job --> money --> lifestyle. In English you could say, “in order to have money for my lifestyle, I need to have a job.” This is how the mind works.

For some, this way of seeing life starts to change on the trail as the things one wants start to happen with less effort and less linkages. Try to explain “trail magic” using the mind. Trail magic just happens. It blows the step-by-step ordering away.

This causes an expansion in the person (from the journals I’ve read, not everyone gets this effect) and the person feels larger than life, freer, able to do anthing, etc.

Then they come home. Because of habit, they immediately start to put the old rules back on like an old coat. It feels heavy, constrained, and that wonderful expansiveness starts to contract after a while.

To stop this from happening you have to be conscious enough to know you’re throwing on the “old coat” and getting into your old linkages again. Removing linkages is pretty difficult because none of us are too prepared to maintain our lifestyle while quiting our job at the same time; or admit to ourselves that the job, money, and lifestyle are all mutually exclusive choices.

Start small and work your way up to bigger linkages. The trail is nice because you’ll have a lot of time and space to work on these things as they come up. There’s not a million other distractions to cloud your thinking.

Dharma

#5

For me personally the key to avoiding getting down is to keep busy. I knew people who got of the trail were saying they were feeling depressed. So, I made myself an exit plan. Just like I planned my hike every day, I now plan my non-hiking day. If it’s a work day, I work, and put everything into it. (Just like I did on the trail.) On days off I run 5 miles or more. I started playing the guitar…and if you pick up an instrument and find that you still have time on your hands then you are not doing that instrument justice. Oh, also I ran a road race with some friends and had a blast. I am also taking GPS and compass classes…and am getting into E-Bay…which is a whole new world. (See a pattern.) My non-hiking life is just as full and rewarding as my hiking life was. I will always love the trail, and it is tough to beat in the real world. However, I am taking the energy I got on the trail and applying it to my “real” life. Hope this helps someone!:boy

Zig Zag

#6

Bravo Yogi, I am in “MY REAL WORLD” all day at work, because, I am always day dreaming of the PCT or CDT! Long distance hiking is the greatest thing… the people, the trails nothing could be better. Post hike blues…nah, pre next hike jitters!

Yo-YO

#7

Must admit I’m with Yo-Yo on this. Ever since my first long hike, the next one has always been on my mind, where ever i’ve been working or whatever i’ve been doing. I think it opens your eyes to possibilities that maybe one never would have expected. Life feels more interesting these days. There is alot to be taken from long distance hiking and so much that can be applied in the rest of your life. It’s good to know that as long as you can walk, you will walk…and enjoy it!!

Ross

Ross

#8

Zig Zag, I agree with you. Keeping busy and doing things that you really enjoy besides hiking help beat the post-hike blues. And find new things to enjoy too. Take a class, or teach yourself a new skill or craft.

Another thing you can do is consider becoming a scout leader, where you can teach others to live in the outdoors. Actually, any kind of volunteering is a good pick-me-up.

Rachel Bearbait

#9

thanx folks…i am building on the theme. My wife and I have been considering for some time a small cabin/shack/rental property/lake house/ thingy near the smokies. I fished and camped there a bunch, living there for a big portion of my life. I miss the area and it is still cheap to live there.

that way I could build my own shelter, privy, just go hiking several times a year to keep me refreshed. My guess is it would cost me, but oh the benifits. summer in TN winter in FL…sounds like I am retiring at 40. I love being me.

yogi, good to see ya, yer the first i read.

burn