Friday, August 29, 2008

Daring to dream

I read this today on Paul Mags' web site. He is more eloquent than I am about explaining how the end of my hike was not in Canada. He writes about the Appalachian Trail, but it is the same truth for the PCT.
If you feel that your journey is complete, and Katahdin or Springer have not been reached, don’t feel that you have failed. There are no real failures on the trail. Daring to dream is a rarity in itself. Daring to live out your dream is something that many people are afraid to do. If you do not reach Katahdin or Springer, you will still have an experience that most people would not even bother to dream about. It does not take a thru-hike to learn the lessons of the trail. The lessons come from trying, and your Katahdin might come at Harpers Ferry, Damascus, or earlier. If you know in your heart that you have pushed yourself to your physical, mental and emotional limit, then you have done more than most people have even attempted.
I pushed myself to my physical limits. Mentally and emotionally I think I could have continued, but I also felt that the universe was telling me it was time to go home. I wonder if it would have spoken so loudly if physically I had not been slowly degrading.

I suppose it does not matter much. What matters is I dared to dream. But the dream is still there. I'm not sure when it stops calling. Maybe it never does.

No comments:

Post a Comment