[at-l] Reply all vs reply

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Cutter wrote:
>
>Planning. Dreaming. Wishful thinking. It's all the same, except for the 
>degree of delusion.
>
>Cutter, who's planning an AT thru-hike in, ahem, 2014


Cutter -
I'll take exception to that -

"Wishful thinking" is when one says "I wish I could do that"  --- like when 
the tourons at Newfound Gap gather around a thruhiker and pepper them with 
questions.  They have no real intention of EVER hiking the Trail - but it's 
an ephemeral escapist thought that sounds good at the moment.  Fact is, they 
COULD do that if they really wanted to - but few of them ever will - really 
want to, that is.

"Dreaming" is what you're doing - you "want" to hike the Trail enough to say 
the words, to join at-l, possibly even enough to get out and hike.  But 
you're not ready to make the commitment yet.  S'OK - I dreamed about a 
thruhike for 37 years before I made the commitment, quit my job and put my 
boots on the Trail.  "Dreaming" is good - it's the seed from which 
commitment and "execution" grow.

"Planning" - starts when, as Blue Sky has done, one starts a countdown and 
starts to prepare for leaving their life behind.  It starts with a date, 
with planning the gear you'd need, saving the money you'd need for a 
thruhike, getting information about the Trail and what's actually involved 
in a thruhike - and practising (meaning - hiking, preferably with a pack).  
When you're ready to "plan" - you'll need to answer some of the questions 
you'll find here:

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/TH%20questions.html

and here:

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/TH%20faster.html

And write your resignation letter.  <VBG>

We started "planning" this year's thruhike over 1000 days ago.   Now we're 
packing and storing everything we own, we're selling the house, we've got 
the money and we've got the "fire-in-the-belly."

And in 80 days we'll be "on-trail" in New Mexico and headed north again.  
That's called "execution."
Dreaming and Planning are the seeds from which Execution grows.

Keep on dreaming,
Jim

http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/