Psychological musings and thoughts...

[Outdoorsman88]

I am by no means an expert in the backpacking field, but nor am I a beginner. I am physically fit, have been hiking 8-10 miles a day in the mountains of NC with full pack for some time now, have decent enough willpower, but still find myself lacking the psychological "umph" to push me into committing 100% to doing the trail. My mind gets filled with "what if"s and "but"s, and all my negative mind seems to do is to feed them. Anyone else having these sorts of negative mindsets? My main struggle with the trail will most definitely be 90-95% mental. If I am going to undertake this monumental task of the trail, I need to put into place some sort of meditation practice or something of the sort in order to detach from the negative thoughts and just "be." Thoughts/opinions/rants/comments??

Be well,
Jeff

[ChinMusic]

I never figured out how to get rid of negative thoughts, and still made it.

[windels11]

That is what happens to me ... I just try to put my mind in a different place, I think about when I get to the top and how pretty it is.. It helps some of the times but I've never found a 100% way to get it out of my mind

[kidchill]

You just have to keep going...it's easier said then done, trust me. Once I hit Harper's Ferry, I really didn't want to hike anymore. At the same time I didn't want to quit either. I didn't really know what to do, so I just kept my head down, stayed outta town, and kept on moving. The first quarter of the trail is physical, the second quarter comes easy, the 3rd quarter is mental, and the 4th quarter is both mental and physical. This is just my opinion from my hike...

[Paul the Brit]

I would suggest reading Appalachian Trials (A psychological and emotional guide to successfully thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail) by Zach Davis http://appalachiantrials.com its a great read.

[Dogwood]

Do you also go into the fearful and negative "what if's" and "but's" each time you get into an automobile and head down the road? It's my assumption you do not. Instead, you major on the benefits of getting in that automobile and it helping you. If you can do this, and it's my assumption you do, you already possess the method for applying it to hiking.

Your use of words and how you are defining things tells me a lot too. Here's what you said, "If I am going to undertake this monumental task of the trail..."
Don't look at it as a monumental task. Chunking a larger opportunity down into smaller parts is one way you can do that. Also notice my choice of words in describing a hike, "a large opportunity" rather than "a monumental task." How we define things can determine how we feel about them! When you change the way you look at things the things you look at change. - Wayne Dwyer

[Pedaling Fool]

I am by no means an expert in the backpacking field, but nor am I a beginner. I am physically fit, have been hiking 8-10 miles a day in the mountains of NC with full pack for some time now, have decent enough willpower, but still find myself lacking the psychological "umph" to push me into committing 100% to doing the trail. My mind gets filled with "what if"s and "but"s, and all my negative mind seems to do is to feed them. Anyone else having these sorts of negative mindsets? My main struggle with the trail will most definitely be 90-95% mental. If I am going to undertake this monumental task of the trail, I need to put into place some sort of meditation practice or something of the sort in order to detach from the negative thoughts and just "be." Thoughts/opinions/rants/comments??

Be well,
Jeff

8-10 mpd, and then what? Are you going back home? If so, day hiking is nothing like long-distance hiking, where you have to set up camp every night and ration food and think about where your next water source is and your next resupply...

How much time do you have? Because you may want to attempt a long-distance hike, say from Spring to Damascus, or something, that will go a lot further in answering your question then any of us can answer it.

[slow mind]

Heres a story I posted a while back that helped me in thinking about "What if's"

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=#post1338406

[quasarr]

I dunno, while hiking I spend a lot if time thinking about all the people who have wronged me, all the things I should have said, (the jerk store called and they're running out of YOU!!), etc. Maybe it's not healthy but it is what it is.

PS, anybody remember the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Out West there are a lot of burned places from wildfires, and hiking through there I would always sing, "Up FROM the ashes OF disaster GROW the roses of SUCCESS!"

PPS I recently found a copy of the book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Thomas Knob shelter and discovered it was written by Ian Flemming of James Bond fame!!

PPPS Don't let your worries prevent you from attempting the trail. If you have to quit, fine! Are the AT police gonna come get you? No! You can always try again next year. Remember, up from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!!!

[quasarr]

Here it is!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GND10sWq0n0

[AttorneyAtLunch]

Obsess over the trail for next couple of months. Emotionally invest yourself into the idea so much that you won't let yourself fail.

[SipseyFreak]

I don't think the will to hike on can be conquered prior to getting on the trail. You have to be in the wanting-to-quit stage of hiking before you can make up your mind to either hike on or bail. At that point you have to think of it in chunks to complete ... or maybe that's just the way my head works ...

[hikerboy57]

Obsess over the trail for next couple of months. Emotionally invest yourself into the idea so much that you won't let yourself fail.

one injury and your entire emotional investment is wiped out.
instead of obsessing over the trail, obsess on being prepared.do your homework. read trail journals.see whats worked for others.you wont know when you've hit the wall until you've hit it.im going to find out for myself next year.

[ChinMusic]

I don't think one can understand the mental aspect of the game until you play it. Expect to be surprised.

[Dogwood]

Don't embark on a thru-hike with the intention of actually finishing and enjoying it being double minded wishy washy about it! Your odds of not happily fulfilling the desire will not be good.

[Dogwood]

KK(KayaK Karl) had a good one liner recently about thru-hiking - something like, "everything that I planned for didn't happen and everything that happened I didn't plan for."

[q-tip]

My goal was to get what I considered a "Genuine AT Experience". I defined that for me at 1,000 mi. So I walked from GA to WV. By the time I got to Harpers Ferry I could not take another step, but I achieved my goal and believe I got the experience of long distance hiking I sought. Just a thought....

[Malto]

I don't think one can understand the mental aspect of the game until you play it. Expect to be surprised.

Totally agree. Prehike you can sit on you butt reading trail journals dreaming of skipping up the trail in knickers. A few crappy days of weather, friends dropping out, nagging injuries, boredom, pain and suddenly there will be a little devil sitting on your shoulder telling you "you have met your objectives, you don't need to go on, your feet really hurt, you don't want a permanent injury, it wasn't ever about finishing." How you smack down that little devil when, not if, he pops up will dictate whether you finish. I suspect most people can look back during their life at how they have handled adversity to get an indication on how they will react when faced with mentally challenging moments.

[Kdoiron]

I think burning the bridges behind you is the best way I can rationalize the trail as far as fear is concerned. Knowing that the journey itself will transform you is incredibly enticing mentally, especially when you see your motivation as change. Accepting that you don't want the trail, but without a shadow of a doubt that you NEED it, will you be able to jump that last hurdle. Granted my situation involves the AT as a start-over point after a divorce, but you get the idea.

[Lone Wolf]

I am by no means an expert in the backpacking field, but nor am I a beginner. I am physically fit, have been hiking 8-10 miles a day in the mountains of NC with full pack for some time now, have decent enough willpower, but still find myself lacking the psychological "umph" to push me into committing 100% to doing the trail. My mind gets filled with "what if"s and "but"s, and all my negative mind seems to do is to feed them. Anyone else having these sorts of negative mindsets? My main struggle with the trail will most definitely be 90-95% mental. If I am going to undertake this monumental task of the trail, I need to put into place some sort of meditation practice or something of the sort in order to detach from the negative thoughts and just "be." Thoughts/opinions/rants/comments??

just walk til you've had enuf of walkin'. them mountains ain't goin' nowhere