Twelve Days to Go - by Jeff Mann

Last July I left my job. There were a few things I was going to do before our hike…

Get in shape.

Work on the house.

Down size.

Lose a few pounds (about twenty would have been nice). Only 55 more to go!

Stay off the internet so much.

And I got it pretty much 100%. 100% not doing any of that.


The first of the year I thought for a while and actually came up with resolutions.

1.  learn to shrug things off more often. Let 2015 be the year of ¯\_(?)_/¯.

2. Stop dieting: Just eat more fruit and veg and drink a ton of water.

3.  Figure out what makes you tick, what you actually feel passionate about, and delve further into it. Never stop learning.

4.  Stop beating yourself up about missing workouts, instead find a form of exercise you actually enjoy.

5. Dance whenever you get the chance.

6. Take a social media break.

7. Ditch phones when you’re eating with other people.

8. Sing out loud whenever you feel like it.

9. Worry less about what people think.

10. Give more compliments.

11. Clear out all the clutter in your room and clothes you no longer fit into.

12. Write someone a love letter.

13. Meditate, or at least try to.

14.  Walk to places, let your feet do the moving.

15. Dip your toes in a body of water you hae never been to before.

16. Make a to-read/watch list. Then read/watch.

17. Do some crafty DIY hacks around your home to make the place more cosey.

18. Learn to make the first move, be bold, be brave, be the first to dance, grab 2015 by the horns.

19. Learn songs on the guitar, uke and harmonica.

20. Work on mobility, flexibility and strength.

21. Learn some Gaelic.

22. Learn to juggle.

23. Start a daily journal, to-do list and schedule.

24 Floss

25 practice my bongo board

26 play more games

I am really trying on number one and even seven though that one isn’t much of a problem. It would be worse if I had a smart phone but I don’t so it isn’t.

February 17th/18th we came back from Vegas.

I was going to, you guessed it, lose a few pounds, work out, down size my things, organize, etc, etc, etc.

Another 100%. 100% not.

So, what am I going to do on this trip? 

Well, hopefully get into better shape. Walking 2189 miles should do that. We’ll also being eating pretty well thanks to all the work Kim has put into food prep.

I’ll have been on a six month social media diet which I hope kicks that habit for good.

We’ll be living out of our packs for so long I hope it really will encourage me to down size for real when we get home.

I want to walk off a lot of my problems, feelings, a guilt. Leave them on the trail. I know I promised to leave no trace but I really want to leave a lot of those things behind. My constant worry. My cynicism. My pessimism. Kim calls me her “Little Black Cloud.” I want to leave that on the trail. No, I don’t want to turn into some chipper a-hole that annoys the crap out of people. I just want to be me. Enjoy family. Enjoy life. Drink good coffee. Drink good beer. Laugh with friends. Work hard when work needs to be done and play hard when its playtime. And floss of course.

Isn’t that what we all want?

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