On backpacking

The title photo for this blog is a photo of me about to leave for my first ever backpacking trip. You can tell by the strap position that it was in fact my first trip. I was 14 years old. I had the time of my life and it was the beginning of a passion that I still carry today.

One of the parts I love most about backpacking is getting to the destination and realizing how few people will ever see this spot. It is incredibly special. And why will few people ever see it or step foot there? Because they are unwilling to be uncomfortable.

They are not willing to carry the pack or go a week without showering or they refuse to poop in the bush. Maybe it’s because there are too many bugs or sleeping on a camping mat is terrible. 

It takes some sacrifice. It takes real energy and a willingness to be uncomfortable. It is work. But at the end of it, you get to a place that very few people will ever see. 

I think our dreams are similar. Very few people ever see their dreams become reality because they are unwilling to be uncomfortable. 

But, if we are willing to move through the discomfort we can make it somewhere very few people ever will…although, I hope they do…I hope it becomes commonplace. Wouldn’t that be lovely? 

I write this as someone who often gives into comfort. And one thing I have learned about myself, both in backpacking and in my other dreams, I always go further when I have the right people around me. People who cheer me on, yes, but more importantly people who will bear the discomfort with me and people who believe in what’s to come and who persevere. And frankly, people who tell me suck it up and keep on walking.

Find those people, and never let them go.