Inspiration and passion - about mental preparation.

I thought I would write a post about mental preparation and how I am preparing for the hike. Because hiking almost half the way through the US will be as much a mental challenge as a physical challenge I have prepared and are still preparing myself to endure it.

The forest and the sea has always been my sanctuary. A place to seek refuge and peace. Alone or with my animals. The healing energies of trees and the forever rolling swells of the sea. Being and walking in these sceneries always brings clarity, new strength, calmness and happiness. The healing of nature has also brought me to the trail and given me strength to believe I can make it.

I think I have done a lot of the mental preparation for the hike in general in this thing we call life. Being a vessel for new life and birthing my three wonderful kids into this world is one of them. The sum of 27 months of pregnancy all together while running a farm at the same time has given me quite some stamina. Surviving the struggles of a period of mental depression barely able to get up in the morning for a year. Leaving the one I had lived with for 16 years and never doubting in all the pain that I made the right decision. Standing tall in the midst of the storm of other people's judgement and opinions. Keeping myself calm and together when everything was kaos. Thinking of it life has thrown me quite a lot and I am deeply thankful. Thankful for where it has led me today. Thankful for forcing me to make choices for myself. To get to know myself better. To prioritize myself. And to give me the belief that everything is possible. Thankful for the strength to endure. To have a big heart. To forgive. To love. With all of me. To believe in myself and make me feel brave every day.

Key number two is inspiration! Inspiration gives energy, faith and happiness! And passion! I have a lot of passion. It leads me to fantastic places and lets me meet amazing people all over the world. I definitely have a passion for books, and reading people's stories and experiences about the PCT has inspired me tremendously. Carrot Quinn; my heroinne! Cheryl Strayed, the Hikertrash people, Nicole Antoinette on Real Talk Radio; check her out. So good. And of course Zach Davies' Pacific Crest Trials. Loving it, using it. Making lists of "why am I doing this?" now so I can read it on trail when I lie there half dead in my tent with blisters, two toenails less and 400 mosquitobites.... and no more food..

I love this quote from the French writer René Daumal:

“You cannot stay on the summit forever, you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”

I am ready to see. I am ready.