[at-l] Developing mental toughness for LD hiking

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 02:45 PM 12/6/2005 -0600, Shane Steinkamp wrote:
>I guess it's different folks for different strokes, but I have never been 
>goal oriented.  I am a process oriented person.  I live for today, not for 
>the place I might reach at some point in the future.

Well, I'm going to weigh in here even though I'm not an AT thru-hiker and 
according to some here, I don't "know". However I have (more than once) 
been through some rough waters in life that made me think about quitting 
what I was doing and I think what I've learned applies.

In my opinion, and I'm going to sound like Dr. Phil here, it all comes down 
to 'are you getting payback' for what you are doing? For some that might be 
progressing toward a cherished goal, for others it may be a period of 
freedom from (fill in what you want here, job responsibilities/city 
life/starting a career after college/etc.) or a spiritual quest of some 
sort. It may be a combination of things. The bottom line is, if you don't 
feel you are getting 'payback' that you value more than you might by 
quitting... you'll quit. It doesn't matter if what you're thinking of 
quitting is a thru-hike, an education, a job, a marriage, or whatever.

A thru-hike is one of the easier things in life to quit because society in 
general doesn't put a high value on it so there is relatively little 
external support for continuing and a low disapproval quotient if you do 
quit. More than a few thru-hikers have found that it isn't a plus on a 
resume to most employers. More than a few have found that it was rough on a 
marriage. Earl was know as "the crazy one" when he did the 1st thru. It's 
something you do for you. If you get out there and find you like it as much 
as the dream that was in your head, you'll get there, where ever "there" is 
for you. If it isn't like what you expected, if it isn't giving you the 
'payback' you need for sticking out the tough parts, you will find a reason 
to quit.