View Full Version : Losing Motivation, what to do......
Pony Boy
06-01-2008, 16:33
What does one do?? I recently got back on the trail after an injury but skipped up a section to the Shennandoahs to try my foot out on 'easier' terrain.... I also got on here to bypass the bubbles of thru-hikers and to have some solitude....OOOPPPSS....even though the crowds were bothersome at times, I have come to realize (after hiking for 200 or so miles solo) that they were also a motivation for me. I have been hiking on and off with some random thru-hikers from SNP to the MD state line, but it seems as though I cant hitch on with one certain group. Funny how I didnt want crowds and now I miss them....As much as the AT is a wilderness experience, it is even more of a social experience. I guess I did not realize how much i depended on seeing familiar faces on those hard days. So here I am, contemplating my future on the AT....go on, go home....?? hmmm, I honestly have gotten 'bored' with the trail and i am trying to figure out how to get motivation back. I my 'soloist' attitude got the best of me... I miss my group that i started out with for sure!!!!....hmmm....any familiar stroies out there??
PonyBoy
Why not just go back to where your friends are? I'm thinking the pack is probably around Central Virginia.
I guess you have to decide: Would you rather be out there and not be with your crew, or be home? If it were me, I'd keep hiking and eventually you're bound to hook up with some plp you get along with. The social aspect on the AT is great, but I'd rather be alone than not hiking at all.
Good luck! You could have worse problems...:)
CrumbSnatcher
06-01-2008, 17:14
Why not just go back to where your friends are? I'm thinking the pack is probably around Central Virginia.
I guess you have to decide: Would you rather be out there and not be with your crew, or be home? If it were me, I'd keep hiking and eventually you're bound to hook up with some plp you get along with. The social aspect on the AT is great, but I'd rather be alone than not hiking at all.
Good luck! You could have worse problems...:)
IMO.....................A-TRAINS RIGHT,take care of the foot,take it easy let your friends catch up. don't ever quit in a town, its too easy... get a motel or something take a day or two off. then get back out there.you want to quit, quit out there not in town. you want to know whats going on back in your home town? i'll tell you, the same ole crap as before you headed out... i hope the best for you...
We all bring our interests, knowledge, and backgrounds to the trail. No one can tell you what to do when these things collide.
You truly have to decide on priorities. Hiking with a fun group. Doing the whole trail. Just exploring the trail. Just whatever ....
There are no rules about such things -- other than lying after you are done about what you may have done -- and even that is your decision, not anyone else's. (tell fibs if you wish, but don't assume that is wise.)
It's only a walk in the woods, through the mountains, and a chance to do whatever it is that you wish to do with the resource that thousands of maintainers, the US Congress (thank you congress), and thousands of trail creation leaders have done on your behalf.
There absolutely are no rights or wrongs about such things.
But that doesn't mean that such matters are not critically important.
Weary
Lone Wolf
06-01-2008, 18:57
What does one do?? I recently got back on the trail after an injury but skipped up a section to the Shennandoahs to try my foot out on 'easier' terrain.... I also got on here to bypass the bubbles of thru-hikers and to have some solitude....OOOPPPSS....even though the crowds were bothersome at times, I have come to realize (after hiking for 200 or so miles solo) that they were also a motivation for me. I have been hiking on and off with some random thru-hikers from SNP to the MD state line, but it seems as though I cant hitch on with one certain group. Funny how I didnt want crowds and now I miss them....As much as the AT is a wilderness experience, it is even more of a social experience. I guess I did not realize how much i depended on seeing familiar faces on those hard days. So here I am, contemplating my future on the AT....go on, go home....?? hmmm, I honestly have gotten 'bored' with the trail and i am trying to figure out how to get motivation back. I my 'soloist' attitude got the best of me... I miss my group that i started out with for sure!!!!....hmmm....any familiar stroies out there??
PonyBoy
you're missing people more than scenery and just BEING in the woods. time to go home
Montana Mac
06-01-2008, 20:02
Don't quit in town - don't quit when you are down. Make your decision when everything is going great.
Unfortunately there is only one person that can make the decision for you.
It's brave of you to admit to boredom on the trail -- but yeah, it happens. Looks to me like the group interaction was important to you.
Go find your friends, give it another go. Do whatever it takes to make it fun again -- and if you can't make that happen, call it a day and go home.
Appalachian Tater
06-01-2008, 21:05
Sounds like you don't have any real desire to hike the whole trail. Do what _terrapin_ said.
In order to spend several months hiking from one end to the other, you have to want to do it bad enough to keep walking even on days where you don't want to, if that makes any sense.
Each person puts something different into a thru-hike and gets something different out of it. You get out of it what you need to get out of it.
4eyedbuzzard
06-01-2008, 21:31
... Do whatever it takes to make it fun again -- and if you can't make that happen, call it a day and go home.
Yep. If it isn't fun, there's no point in it.
Blissful
06-01-2008, 21:54
I don't know - there's plenty of times the trail isn't fun. So many seem to use the idea of "fun" as their motivation for doing the whole thing, and I guess I find it a weak one. Because bone up, there are days it won't be fun AT ALL. Then what do you fall back on?
For me, completing the AT was a lifetime goal of mine. I set my sights on that goal. And had some great people cheering me on too, on the homefront. All of that helped. But then again, I am more of a scenery, goal-oriented person than a people person. But if it's people that motivate you, then find some people to hike with.
I agree with Blissful, sorta. FUN is not that word I would use about long distance hiking. Not all the time, that is for sure. But I like that. I don't need or want it to be fun all the freaking time. I like the challenge that it isn't. Rewarding though ,it is. Boredom doesn't happen to me much out there. I LIKE it... all of it. the good and the not so wonderful..Embrace all of it. That is what worked for me and nowadays I just LOVE being out there. it was the first hike that was the toughest mentally. Like the folks said don't quit in town if you can help it. Leave the trail on your finest day... with weather so perfect and scenery so fantastic that it breaks your heart. If home still call you THEN.. well, maybe you have other things on your plate you need to be doing. Regrets, that is what you don't want to have.
4eyedbuzzard
06-01-2008, 22:49
I don't know - there's plenty of times the trail isn't fun. So many seem to use the idea of "fun" as their motivation for doing the whole thing, and I guess I find it a weak one. Because bone up, there are days it won't be fun AT ALL. Then what do you fall back on?
For me, completing the AT was a lifetime goal of mine. I set my sights on that goal. And had some great people cheering me on too, on the homefront. All of that helped. But then again, I am more of a scenery, goal-oriented person than a people person. But if it's people that motivate you, then find some people to hike with.
It depends on how you view fun - perhaps a better word is rewarding. And undoubtably there will be days when it isn't rewarding. But when they start stringing together, and a day becomes a week, and you just don't enjoy the overall hike anymore, it's probably time to do something else.
Oh, this is a very weird coincidence. It was precisely 18 years today when I quit my thru hike in southern Virginia. I rue that day...
Before you head for home, spend some time visualizing what it will be like dealing with the aftermath of having quit. Picture yourself explaining to all those folks you've told about how your'e going to hike the AT that, well, you didn't make it. Picture yourself sitting at home, missing your AT friends. Look at whatever guidebook you have and read about all the stuff ahead of you on the Trail that you haven't seen yet. Most of all, have a good meal, get some rest, mull it all over for at least two more days, and then make the decision. If you've truly had enough, go home. If you know deep down that some sort of inner compulsion is going to make you come back and hike the Trail again (either from the beginning, or from where you left off), you might as well keep hiking.
hmmm, I honestly have gotten 'bored' with the trail and i am trying to figure out how to get motivation back.
PonyBoy
That didn't happen to me, but if it had, I would have gone home.
That didn't happen to me, but if it had, I would have gone home.
I would have kept going anyway.
Things change.
A thru hike is short.
Jason of the Woods
06-02-2008, 07:26
I agree with Wolf. I consider myself very lucky every morning that I get to wake up high on a mountain and spend the day up there.
you're missing people more than scenery and just BEING in the woods. time to go home
4eyedbuzzard
06-02-2008, 07:39
Before you head for home, spend some time visualizing what it will be like dealing with the aftermath of having quit. Picture yourself explaining to all those folks you've told about how your'e going to hike the AT that, well, you didn't make it. Picture yourself sitting at home, missing your AT friends. Look at whatever guidebook you have and read about all the stuff ahead of you on the Trail that you haven't seen yet. Most of all, have a good meal, get some rest, mull it all over for at least two more days, and then make the decision. If you've truly had enough, go home. If you know deep down that some sort of inner compulsion is going to make you come back and hike the Trail again (either from the beginning, or from where you left off), you might as well keep hiking.
I think that's good advice, except for the part about explaining to others why you didn't finish. There should be no shame, guilt, or embarassment, etc about deciding that thru-hiking isn't what you want to do.
I think that's good advice, except for the part about explaining to others why you didn't finish. There should be no shame, guilt, or embarassment, etc about deciding that thru-hiking isn't what you want to do.
Maybe there shouldn't be, but had it been me trying to explain it, that's what I would have felt. Knowing that kept me going more than once.
The thing is, the low feeling passes and the joy returns.
4eyedbuzzard
06-02-2008, 08:37
I'm kind of beyond worrying what others think anymore, just did enough of that earlier in life - reflected in many of my posts probably as well. Just one of my (many) personality faults.;)
I'm kind of beyond worrying what others think anymore, just did enough of that earlier in life - reflected in many of my posts probably as well. Just one of my (many) personality faults.;)
It's not exactly that I care what others think (if I did, I'd wear makeup, which I don't), but that other people would be saying what I'd be thinking myself--that I had failed to do what I said I was going to do.
To make it more personal--I don't consider slackpacking to be morally evil in any way, so it bothers me not a whit for anyone to accuse me of slackpacking. Yeah, I did some.
OTOH, yellow-blazing is not hiking, so if I did that, it would bother my conscience. So if someone else brought it up, I'd squirm.
jersey joe
06-02-2008, 09:57
What does one do?? PonyBoy
Suck it up and keep on hiking!
Lone Wolf
06-02-2008, 10:02
Suck it up and keep on hiking!
why? it's just a trail. if ain't fun no more, get off and go home
Why not just go back to where your friends are? I'm thinking the pack is probably around Central Virginia.
I guess you have to decide: Would you rather be out there and not be with your crew, or be home? If it were me, I'd keep hiking and eventually you're bound to hook up with some plp you get along with. The social aspect on the AT is great, but I'd rather be alone than not hiking at all.
Good luck! You could have worse problems...:)
I talked with Colonel Chaco, Wakapak, they left with a crowd from Damascus on Sunday/Monday at end of Trail Days. As of this week-end, they were leaving Pearisburg VA, NOBO. Should be around Waynesboro VA in two weeks.
This is one of the main reasons I chose to section-hike instead of thru-hike. I know from previous experience somewhere in the 6-8 week area I start to get bored.
You need not finish the entire AT in 2008. Returning later when you really want it or even not at all might be a better idea, but only you can decide.:-?
Whatever you determine to do, I hope you will be glad for your experiences and will make a decision that you can be comfortable with years from now.
jersey joe
06-02-2008, 14:33
why? it's just a trail. if ain't fun no more, get off and go home
Because sometimes we look back on some of our best experiences and realize that they weren't always "fun" or "easy".
But sometimes we realize that even though they weren't always "fun" or "easy", they were "some of our best experiences" and we wish we'd kept on keeping on.... You may find, as I did, that you regret getting off.
Time To Fly 97
06-03-2008, 09:34
Giddy-UP!
Happy hiking!
TTF