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  1. #21

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    In a lot of ways I agree with everybody else will you just shut up and get back to work and quit your whining but I can't because I know exactly how you're feeling. Once you got the taste of freedom how could you possibly go back to an institutional life. It isn't about the fact that you have to get up at the same time go to work at the same time eat your lunch at the same time it's really about the people you have to cohabitate with. You spent the summer hiking with some of the coolest people on Earth but now you have to live with office workers again. Rumors and backstabbing and people criticizing other people's work habits. A boss that is never happy with the amount of work you do and always makes you feel like you're letting the company down. There is a way that you can go on a adventure and get paid for it. It's nothing I would do for very long but has no living expenses and all the money you earn goes right in the bank. If you become a truck driver you can see the country and visit the people you hiked with or other friends and family. There are trucking companies out there that will pay you to get your CDL. They will put you in a hotel and give you enough money for food while you're getting your license. All it takes is a phone call and a clean driving record. You can quit anytime you like and go back to work anytime you like they have one of the biggest revolving doors of any company. There'll always be a truck for you to drive. The thing I like the most is when I'm done hiking I call them up and they send me a bus ticket from wherever I stop hiking. Do not think of this as a long term job just a little adventure to see the USA. It will also give you some time to think about the future and how you should live it. Truckers and hikers are a lot alike we stop every night at a truck stop and talk about the things we have in common just like hikers. We talk about miles we've driven and mountains we've gone over and about snow we drove in. I also like to listen to music as loud as I want and what type of music I want to hear not what everybody wants or worse like FM music. I mean really who listens to FM anymore. Well being a truck driver I could go on and on but I won't if you want to know more go ahead and PM me.

  2. #22

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    Isn't that what you did - make a paradigm shift? It's not "NORMAL", not routine, not customary to live in the woods for 5-6 months constantly traveling miles each day on foot constantly changing your views your perspectives your methodology largely having only what is on your immediate person to survive. Could that be at the core of what adventure is?

    “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
    Christopher McCandless

  3. #23

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    I find it truly sad that so many settle for a job when they should be designing their life. A job, a career, work is only part of life. Consider LIFE in a larger context than just a job or money.

  4. #24
    Registered User dangerdave's Avatar
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    Fantasy Land is fun to visit, but you can't live there.
    AKA "DANGER" AT Thru-Hiker Class of 2015

  5. #25
    Peakbagger Extraordinaire The Solemates's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dangerdave View Post
    Fantasy Land is fun to visit, but you can't live there.
    you can. you just have to be real selfish.
    The only thing better than mountains, is mountains where you haven't been.

    amongnature.blogspot.com

  6. #26

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    Living in fantasy land is also when we settle for someone else's fantasy of what life should be.

  7. #27
    Registered User YesRushGen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dangerdave View Post
    Like wdanner, my thru-hike lies ahead of me...2015.
    <snip>

    Like Geddy Lee of Rush sang, "If you chose not do decide, you still have made a choice."

    Good luck!

    ~Danger
    I'm both a fellow 2015'er and Rush fan!

    Geddy also sang, "Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies. But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be. Sadder, still to watch it die than never to have known it. For he who were blind who once could see, the bell tolls for the..."

    Reading your post here reminded me of that lyric - which is why I posted it!

    Hope to see ya next year.

    Kelly

  8. #28
    Registered User dangerdave's Avatar
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    Good point, Kelly. Thank you.
    AKA "DANGER" AT Thru-Hiker Class of 2015

  9. #29

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    Let's not ignore that adventure does not have to be utterly separate from work. Nor is adventure only experienced through epic long duration far away places. You do not need to be rafting down the Colorado, at Everest Base Camp bidding for the summit, or trekking the Amazon to experience it. You do not need to have a career in the outdoors either.

    Here are some ways that I combine adventure and work or perceive work as adventurous. Meeting new clients(meeting different people, VASTLY different than me, challenging my perspectives, always has an element of adventure to it in my mind), being on different work project locations, dealing with different plant palettes(tropical, west coast/east coast, desert, xeriscape, temperate, etc), working with different hardscape materials, different client budgets, having different project objectives, being an owner of companies yet also being an employee of other companies(freelancing at various times), working 70+ hrs/wk some months and then being off from work for some months(if I so choose), working in a tropical/semi tropical island atmosphere, making the connections and money(having the opps) that lead to different adventures(work is a stepping stone that leads to other opps - NEVER FORGET THAT, YOU get to decide, if you want, what those opps are).

    While you have the rather free from work open calendar consider spending this Thanksgiving volunteering feeding the homeless. It's an adventure but is so much more. It may make you feel better about some things and open up the door to new directions through greater appreciation of the resources you do have. Not everyone has friends that will let you crash in their place for as long as you have.

    If still not working during the Christmas season visit some people in the hospital. Hold the hands of some cancer or AIDS patients. Sing them some carols. Show them someone cares, they are loved, that they are not alone. Dress up as Santa. Say ho ho ho. Go visit the kids in the hospital. How can you not experience an element of adventure when you do that? SMILE. Roar with laughter. Change the way you feel. Change your state! Design(shape) your life.

    Here's another thing to consider. Don't hide your light under a basket. Share communicate with others not so fortunate to have done a thru-hike, what you have learned through your backpacking experiences. Connect your backpacking experiences somehow to asisting others. Besides letting myself be distracted for awhile, what the heck do you think I'm on this site so often? Volunteer to do a backpacking talk to a group like the Boy Scouts or at an outfitter class. Inspire others. Do some trail maintenance. The world needs people like this. Changing for the better someone else's life means you'll be changing yourself for the better.

    Adventure doesn't always have to come again in the exact same way. Not immediately being on another thru-hike doesn't mean you can't incorporate/experience adventure into your life RIGHT NOW. Doing so when it has so much potential to positively impact others makes it that much more satisfying. Backpacking does not have to be a selfish activity nor is spending some time designing your life!

  10. #30
    Registered User dangerdave's Avatar
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    Ignore the philosophical mumbo and just be yourself. If you are honest and honorable and true, good things will come to you.
    AKA "DANGER" AT Thru-Hiker Class of 2015

  11. #31
    Registered User dudeijuststarted's Avatar
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    Finished 10/10/14. I've managed to remain minimalist and frugal. It took about a month of reacclimation, then I was inspired to do something. With 12 years of IT firmly behind me, I was certainly not interested in that. I sat down with a pen and paper to identify what my strengths and weaknesses were in terms of a future. My Bachelor's degree in management (very broad) was left unfinished in 2009, so I decided to reapply for school, and should be done by Summer 2016. Now I have something stimulating to look forward to, and I can even treat myself to a nice section hike this coming year.

    Point being: don't fret, be patient, and maybe do a little self-analysis on paper for your future.

  12. #32
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    The longest I've ever been on a trail continuously was this summer on the Colorado Trail - slightly over four weeks and "re-entry" was difficult after that hike, so I can only imagine what it must be like after five months, and I guess I'll be finding out next year after the PCT. Life on the trail has the potential to be very simple. There are easily identifiable goals and milestones that we see progress against every single day. Obviously the setting is, or should, be a huge part of the reward. And generally, people are better on the trail and in trail towns than in "real life", at least for those of us who live in larger metropolitan areas. I suspect that a big part of re-entry difficulties depends on how satisfactory life was before the trail. If it wasn't satisfactory before, it sure as hell won't be after. The better question is whether what seemed satisfactory before will no longer be satisfactory after the trail. That's a bigger wildcard that some people may not expect. The day-to-day routine in the "real world" which seemed just fine before may no longer be remotely acceptable. I guess everyone is taking the risk of such a discovery when deciding to do a long thru hike.

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