[at-l] listen....

[sloetoe@xxxxxxxxx (Sloetoe)]

to Felix and to Jim Owens, Jan. They got a clue.

What's more is: you got a clue, too. Elsewise, you wouldn't be
in the position, and the seeming pickle, you're in.

What's gonna be important in 10 years, Jan? If you live to be
80, a throughhike represents 1/160th of your life. What waste???
How many things might you do in the next 6 months that you're
going to look back on and say "Thank GOODness I didn't do that
silly hiking thing! What was I thinking?" What did you do 10
years ago that was so all-durn important right now?

Forget it. Ain't NUTHIN' that important that can't wait.

IF YOU WANT IT TO, a throughhike may be a 6 month roving party,
wherein you'll struggle from town to town surviving the social
milieu of the National Social Trail. But that comes as a huge
handicap, and removes those who engage in it from some profound
experiences of inner and outer exploration. There are enough
things out there to get in your way -- I know both iron-willed
and iron-bodied types who quit the trail because of handicaps
they didn't give proper care to. Your worries are warning you of
one of the biggest handicaps: self doubt.

A) Listen to Clyde and Felix -- you ain't got no worry there.
B) Listen to Jim O: your worry is well-placed.

A contradiction? Noooooo. Eisenhower said "War Plans are
absolutely useless. War planning is absolutely vital." The
handicap comes, Jan, in not being prepared when REALLLLLL
self-doubt comes along, and maybe *weeks* of it; and not giving
yourself a chance to get to the other side. You're perceived as
less vulnerable to self doubt than some, AND you're aware of its
potential. You are WAY ahead of the game.

I could go a long way on this topic, but I'll stop with what got
me to Katahdin. (I had a ROTTEN hike through Waynesboro, doubts
a'plenty. Those doubts left in Waynesboro, but I didn't realize
it for 900 more miles, by which time I was singing in the rain
at Little Rock Pond...) What I finally learned, heaping so much
on myself (early on) to have the perfect hike, finally saying
FUQUE THIS and hiking "just not to quit", was this:

"The secret to hiking the Appalachian Trail is to get up each
morning and say 'I'm not going to reach Katahdin *today*.'" If
you get up every morning, point your feet north and hike saying
those words, one day you'll be wrong.

Basically, that little realization set my hike free. Hope you
start out that way, letting each day come as it may, trusting
that, as Jim O said, you will NOT get to Katahdin and say "Gee!
*That* was a big waste of time!" Let your hike, and your soul,
evolve.

Sorry, I wrote this kinda fast.
Sloetoe
Class o' 79

=====
Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.

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