[at-l] "Why" and "Purpose"

[AThiker at smithville.net (Felix)]

Raphael Bustin wrote:

> What gets you through the pain, hardship,
> loneliness, and sheer boredom of a thru-hike? 


First, you tell me why you're bored. What does it take for you to not be 
bored? What do you need to be occupied? What is lacking? What IS the 
'hardship'?  

I quite possibly have never been bored in my life. I like bein' in my 
head. I like bein' out of my head.

>
> So someone tell me, really, what it means to "live
> in the moment" and "mind the miles."  Call me
> cynical, but these just sound like platitudes. 


living in the moment (for me, obviously) can mean lots of things. In the 
Smokies, it was very much the ulitmate 'here and now'...watching trees 
trying to hit me as they crashed to the ground. VERY momentish.  
Sometimes living in the moment (again, for me) is watching a bird fly 
and land on a limb, and then, imagining I'm that bird. What are we going 
to do now? Primp? Sing? Look around? Leave? Sometimes I'm the imaginary 
bird sitting next to him. What are we going to say to each other?  
Sometimes as I'm walking along, I picture what was in a particular area 
a hundred years ago, or more. "Why would they bring cattle all the way 
up here?"...then, I'd try to figure out why they brought cattle all the 
way up there. And, I'd think about the guys name and his wife and if he 
had any dotters.  Sometimes I try to name all the trees I can see at a 
given moment. (Not names like 'Joe' and the like...necessarily)  
Sometimes I try to catch a falling leaf. I'll play a game that I have to 
catch a falling leaf before a certain time (this is easier to do if you 
have some form of time-keeping device) There are many, many more things, 
too.  As for 'minding the miles', I'm too stupid to know what that 
means, so I guess ignorance is bliss.