I will admit that I may be the only one struggling with this, but I highly suspect others out there are experiencing the same concerns.
I feel the need to justify to myself that taking off from life for 6 months to thru hike the AT is an acceptable choice. Every day I alternate between two extremes of "This is happening. It's now or never." and "This is a poor decision. Maybe you should wait a couple more years."

So, I guess my main question : How do you justify quitting your job and/or responsibilities to take half a year to thru hike the AT?