100 Tips for Prospective 2017 AT Thru-hikers

You guys aren't gonna shine green lasers on me, right? That just brings out my disco endzone dance. Where's my paint can?




Datto

It's now morphed into five separate coops -- all of a sudden the chickens went berserk for no reason.

Amazing the Mansons are now the New Normal. Probably the disco ball I'm surmising.


Datto

For Tip 100: Help Those Behind You, included in Datto's Tips v2.0, the subject is deliberately written in a very particular way. The subject is brief, it's last on the listing of Tips and I only provide four general ways to do it.

Reasons:

a) Datto's Tips v2.0 is written for a very specific individual in mind -- the Prospective 2017 AT thru-hiker. It's not written for anyone else. In the beginning of Datto's Tips v2.0 I list specifically who the document is directed toward and who specifically the document is not directed toward.

b) I didn't write Datto's Tips v2.0 to pound someone with a list of obligations, duty and penance associated with an AT thru-hike. Bible-thumping someone with a shirtload of future obligations, in the current day and age, makes it look like a scheme and a racket. Instead, the document is written to help specific people determine for themselves, ahead of time, whether a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is for them. Or not.

The obscure subject of Tip 42: Scrapple -- the tip is not only about Scrapple. Tip 65: Your On-Trail Daily To-do List -- it's not about to-do lists.


Datto

Or Snot also.


Datto

No better reason to postpone a nap than encountering an attractive woman.


Datto

Back to Tip: 99 Your Pies Of Life from Datto's Tips v2.0 -- and the framework relating to your Family Pie Slice.

It's simply amazing to me the number of individuals who intend to remotely control your life via imposing Societal mores. Some will attempt to shame you or goad you into thinking their view of life is the only way. In many (most?) cases these are people who've never done much of anything with their life and they want you to also fail to do much with your life too. That would certify their existence. In other cases these remote-controllers are simply some kind of Jerry Falwell banana stating you will surely burn in Hell for all of your evil choices. Crazy.

This is why a framework is so valuable -- it helps to establish a non-judgmental approach allowing you to make your own choices, separated from supposed Societal Wisdom, Madison Avenue and the Jerry Falwell control-the-Universe types. It allows you to focus and avoid spreading your precious Four Great Resources (time, capital, effort and love) evenly across the bread to no effect. Instead, a framework allows you to have meaningful effect from utilization of your precious Four Great Resources. It's the difference between, "Wow, that turned out great" versus "Oh well, that didn't work out but at least I tried." You're not in the business of trying -- you're in the business of being happy. Being happy is living life fully. Living life fully means taking action and having success toward your own meaningful activities. It's not about being goaded, shamed and tricked into squandering your precious Four Great Resources on activities that have no meaning for you -- just to please Society.

The framework surrounding your Family Pie Slice is simple and easy to understand. Your Family Pie Slice is your Inner Circle members -- I sometimes refer to this as "You and Yours". You can identify the members of your Inner Circle by answering this question: To whom would you ensure happiness at the expense of your own?

The vast majority of people who carry their full backpack past every white blaze and thru-hike the Appalachian Trail are young and single. If they're not all that close to their family they may only have themselves in their Inner Circle. That's fine. Don't go superimposing others into your Inner Circle just to fill it out and meet what Society has come to expect from you. That's poppycock and useless action. Forget about that if the reality is that your Inner Circle currently has only one member.

For a very small portion of people who are carrying their full backpack past every white blaze on an AT thru-hike, their Inner Circle may include their spouse if they're married and/or their kids if they have children. For some it may also include parents and siblings and their best friend. For others their pet is included in the Inner Circle but not a single relative. A few might include their mistress.

That's the thing -- it's your personal choice, not Society shoehorning and imposing will upon you. Your Inner Circle is composed of, proportionally, a very small number of members. It's not a wide-open arc encompassing vast multitudes of members from across the world. Your Inner Circle is purposely and intentionally small in order to allow you to focus your precious Four Great Resources.

Your Outer Circle includes those to whom you have a connection but you wouldn't sacrifice the happiness of You and Yours to ensure their happiness. Social acquaintances, the person you report to at work, the people who report to you if you're in management, the individuals who's causes you support or your next door neighbor. If catastrophe happened to someone in your Outer Circle, you'd probably be concerned, troubled and worried about their situation and would help them if you can, but you'd never sacrifice the happiness of your Inner Circle. That's how you distinguish who's in the Inner Circle and who's in the Outer Circle.

Beyond your Outer Circle is Everyone Else. If you haven't yet gotten You and Yours already well-covered with their lives becoming wildly fulfilled and happy, forget about the people in the Everyone Else. Yes, I know, it sounds harsh but your primary focus is on your Inner Circle. Focusing your precious Four Great Resources primarily on your Inner Circle -- on what I call your Family Pie Slice -- is what leads to making a difference for those who are important to you. Spreading butter thinly across the bread, across Everyone Else, will make little difference to you in the long-run and is akin to throwing handfuls of resources out a car window while driving down the highway.

Focus. That's the whole idea of utilizing a framework. it allows you to focus specifically on what is important to you, on what will make You and Yours outrageously happy. That focus allows you to avoid all the whims and control-freakishness of Society -- you're not in the business of making Society happy and fulfilled. You're in the business of achieving great happiness and fulfillment for You. And Yours.


Datto

Short version:

At the bikini contest over Spring Break, Missionary Positioners became aghast.


Datto

Yes, I know. The disciples of Castro still linger too.


Datto

For a comedic expression not too far off my text about the Family Pie Slice described above, one could search out the "Amish Bell - Call Waiting" bit from Bob & Tom. You have to listen to it rather than reading the words so an MP3 might be necessary.

On the Pacific Crest Trail a few hikers developed the grand idea for an Amish Bear Canister. Geez was that funny. A bucket with secret underground wires going back to the tent. In the middle of the night while the bear is tearing things up, someone from inside a tent yells, "I said BEEP!!".


Datto

Also recommend the "Invisible Leash" bit and the "Mr. Obvious - The Critter" bit.

"Mr. Obvious - The Critter" bit is here -- click the YouTube icon in the lower bar:



I actually carried a bunch of comedy on the PCT -- I had to stop listening to it because I was making so few miles per day. It was messing me up while I was hiking. I had to go back to zoning with music.


Datto

By the way, I'm not anti-religion. A spiritual aspect of the human experience is vital. Anyone who's read my on-line AT journal would know religion is an integral part of my beliefs.

What I don't like are control-freak people like televangelists. The lavish lifestyles, the cost structure and zero tolerance preaching across the airwaves leading to only one way of thinking -- that's the part I dislike. Jerry Falwell is the singular image for all of that -- even before he became directly involved in politics.

A person who's carried their full backpack past every white blaze on an AT thru-hike is likely to have an increased spiritual connection afterwards -- as well as an increased level of tolerance allowing for many viewpoints. It's one of the greatest things I witnessed from individuals who started their AT thru-hike. First-hand evidence against rigid thinking mounted the further north thru-hikers traveled on the Trail.


Datto

So what are you going to do with all that SuperConfidence when you come off the Trail after having carried your full backpack past every white blaze on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail?

It is a crossroad.

It will become a point of inflection in your own life.

You'll be holding in your hands a great advantage. It is hard to acknowledge it right now, prior to the start of you're AT thru-hike. But it will be there nevertheless -- when you are ready.

Your possibilities will become endless -- the immense positive outcomes available to you.

If you will just think long-term. That's one of the biggest challenges coming off the Trail -- to think long-term.

To figure out where you want to go after your AT thru-hike. To know precisely what it is you want.

Once you do that, worries begin to disappear Post AT. You'll know you're on the correct course.

You as a prospective 2017 AT thru-hiker shouldn't squander the experience at the end of your AT thru-hike. Instead, realize the gift presented to you.

Think what it is you want. Figure that out. Then, don't be deterred -- make it happen.


Datto

Yesterday while making homemade strawberry ice cream here at the Cabin, a visiting five year old climbed a step stool and pointedly demanded and received complete obedience from the Doberman Pinscher.

A future CxO if I'm not mistaken.


Datto