Let’s Do This…Live Your Dream.

Well, I’m happy to say that this will be my last post for a while on my blog site, hopefully, for the next 3 months. Come this Sunday, my journey on the Appalachian Trail will start. And tomorrow, my wife and I make the drive to Harpers Ferry, WV.  So going forward, I’ll be posting my progress, thoughts, and experiences on my Trail Journals page, here at: www.trailjournals.com/purpose.  I’ll also be posting some pictures (some) as I don’t want to live behind the lens on this journey, on my Instagram page @thepurposefulhiker.  Thank you again for following my journey, and I hope to return to blogging on this page in November.

So, I’ll keep this short. I’m standing in a place I’ve been before, but this time it’s different. When I last stood at this spot, it was to announce the postponing of my March thru-hike start date, an emotional day for me in more ways than I could ever have imagined.  Yet, on that day I planted a seed of hope, a seed that was soon stepped on by some naysayers, and I almost gave up on thru-hiking the AT. As time and life forged on, it was with the support of friends, family, and followers, that I started to water that seed with my dream. Amazingly, that seed started to grow and blossom into reality.  

As I now stand at this spot today, on the eve of my AT journey, I can only wonder if I have what it takes to make it to Springer Mountain. I’m no stranger to these feelings as I’ve stood here in life before, wondering and contemplating everything. Whether it was my first Marathon, my first Triathlon, my first and only Ultra before RA changed my path in life, or the birth of our first child. I mean let’s be realists, nothing is more real than being responsible for another human’s life. So to walk into the unknown unprepared is foolish, but sometimes we don’t have that choice, and to face the unknown either way takes courage. To want to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail takes, well as my friends would say, takes a crazy person. I guess only miles and time will tell how my story will go. 

Scared, nervous, anxious, happy, excited, you name it, but most of all, I feel alive. Thank you for following along on my life journey.  To be inspired, you must inspire. So, with that, I must go to unlearn what I’ve learned so I can Be_again.