On November 1st, I applied for my PCT Long-distance Permit. My target start date for the hike is Wednesday, April 25th. I’ll find out sometime over the next couple of weeks if I get my target start date on the first try. If not, I have a second chance of applying for a thru-hiking permit in January.
In the meantime, I have less than six months to finish preparing for my 5-month trek from Mexico to Canada. It feels like it was only yesterday when I gave notice to my full-time day job and started planning this crazy adventure. In April, I went back to bartending a few nights a week, started teaching more yoga classes, started researching, buying and using gear for my PCT hike and got on the trail to start physically training for the adventure. That was over seven months ago! I now have less than six months until I leave.
Time is moving fast. Really fast.
Each week, I keep telling myself that this will be the week things slow down. I’ll use my one or two days off to focus on things like planning my town resupply stops along the PCT, write a few blog posts, take pictures for blog posts and Instagram, balance my checkbook, get out on the trail for a fun hike or training hike, visit REI to try out gear I’ve been researching, sleep in, do laundry, visit with friends, clean my room, go to the grocery store, take a yoga class and the list goes on… The point is, as the weeks continue to go by, nothing has slowed down. I’ve become a master in packing each day full of as many things my calendar will allow with activities such as work shifts and checking off things on my ever growing To Do List.
Pretty soon Wednesday, April 25th will be here and the whole year I’ve spent planning and researching for my trip will be nothing but a yoga teaching, bartending, hiking/backpacking training, PCT researching blur. Then I’ll have the next five months to think about what I want to do once I get off the PCT.
If I don’t stop and take the time to look around once in a while, I’m going to miss everything that’s going on around me. Being present is such a powerful way to truly experience every aspect of the moment. When you’re present in your day-to-day life, at work, on a hike or in a yoga class, you’re able to experience every single breath, every single movement and every single moment.
This is why for this week, I’m theming all of my classes on Being Present. I’m encouraging all of my students to be present on their mats for the full hour of class and to devote the entire time to themselves and their practice, one breath at a time.
This week, I’m going to allow myself to slow down, catch my breath, be present and enjoy the scenery a bit. In a time of my life where every minute on my calendar counts, I have to make the time to show up for those weekday warrior training hikes as well as make the time for those hikes where I get to stop and pick the huckleberries.
Take a look at when I originally used the Being Present theme for my classes back in February of this year. Life was moving pretty fast back then (as it always seems to do), but look at the different frame of mind I was in. A lot has changed over the last year. If my Today Self could go back to my February 2017 Self, I’d tell her to slow down, catch her breath and not to worry because she’s got this.
Congrats on applying! That sounds so amazing. I’d love to do it someday but I could never do it with my current job. I can’t wait to follow along with your hike!
Thanks Kristen! I used to feel the same way too when I had my full-time job. I eventually got to the point where I was tired of talking about wanting to do the hike and finally made the decision to just do the damn thing. I quit my job back in March of this year so I could have a whole year to plan and train for the PCT hike. I’ve also been focusing on building/writing in my blog and teaching lots and lots of yoga. This past year has been very busy and full of lots of hard work! My motto is: Do it. Quit the job. Save the money. Plan the trip. Face those fears. No regrets!