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Fwd: [at-l] Self Doubt (How to help a Newbie: Update 4 - Part II)
Wasn't it Nietzche who said "freedom is the recognition of necessity"?
Jim and/or Ginny Owen wrote:
>
> rafe wrote:
> >At the risk of offending a few, I need to take exception with
> >some of the above.
>
> LOL!!!!!
> No offense taken here, Rafe.
>
> >In some regards, a thru hike (particularly on the well-marked
> >AT) is a willful abrogation of freedom. Perhaps a wee bit
> >less so on the PCT and CDT, where there's a bit more
> >"hiker discretion" on the actual footpath.
>
> There's as much discretion as you allow yourself. Those who limit their own
> freedom do so voluntarily (although usually out of ignorance of the
> consequences) :-)
>
> >Oh, there are some small choices to be made along the
> >way -- which town(s) to stop at, whether to lay over or walk
> >in the rain/snow, how many miles to walk on any given day.
> >But for the most part, the thru hiker is incredibly constrained.
> >There are 2160 miles to hike, and only so many months to
> >do it in. And there really is only one path. The math is
> >simple: X miles per day, on average, or the task simply
> >will not be completed.
>
> Uh - Rafe? 2160 miles - 6 months - 12 miles per day. Not an impossible
> goal. CDT - 2800 miles - 6 months - 16 mpd. PCT - 2658 miles - 5 months -
> 18 mpd. All very doable - and in less time for those who so desire (we
> didn't). Lots of people take side trips - Blue Drew spent 6 months on the
> PCT and bagged every peak along the way. Then he spent 6 months on the CDT
> - and bagged every peak along the way. Freedom - for him, if not for you
> and me.
>
> >Brave souls may taste freedom in blue-blazes, but will
> >likely meet some hostility and cold shoulders for doing so.
> >The exercise of freedom has a price, it seems.
>
> Yep - but who are you doing it for - those who are hostile - or yourself?
> Whose approval do you need most - theirs or yours? It's ALL in the head --
> your head (or mine - as the case may be).
>
> >In a perverse way, I rediscovered freedom the day I finally
> >quit my hike. Because that was the day vowed that the
> >Trail didn't own me, that I was free to get on with my life,
> >and I could stop berating myself for failing at the task I'd
> >set myself up to.
>
> YESSSSS - from "The Thruhiking Papers - Part 8" ----
> >While the attitude ("I can't wait to get home") isn't conducive to
> >finishing a thruhike, at least some of them learn that they care more about
> >their family - or girlfriend - or dog than they do about a thruhike.
>
> Or to get on with their lives.
>
> More ---
> >if you're divided between where you are and where you'd rather be, then
> >you'll lose something precious - being fully alive and aware in the NOW.
> >Present moment living is one of the gifts of the Trail - if you're open to
> >it.
>
> And sometimes you need to go home to find it. No fault - no shame - it's
> YOUR choice, not your bosses or your wifes or your mothers or .... Freedom.
>
> >It was critical to leave the Trail when I did, because I
> >truly love hiking, and still do, and I didn't want to lose
> >that. I'll finish the trail some day, though not as a thru-
> >hiker. I can live with that.
>
> Good - cause you're the one who gets to live with that. And it's better to
> be happy with the choices you've made. As the man said - Don't worry - Be
> Happy!!!
>
> >Anyway, I kinda chafe at the association of thru-hiking
> >with "freedom." I see it as quite the opposite: it's the
> >abrogation of freedom, for a goal. No value judgment.
> >That's just the way I see it.
>
> And that's entirely your right. Thruhiking is NOT for everyone. Just as
> engineering or skateboarding or professional football or deep ocean sailing
> aren't for everyone.
>
> There's no judgment here, Rafe - I'm saying that you did what YOU wanted to
> do - and "that" is the freedom you found. Others of us find other kinds of
> freedom. Thank God we don't all find the same things
> :-))
>
> Walk softly my friend,
> Jim
>
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