What will throw me the trail

«Hey team, could you start thinking about your personal development goals for 2026 for team day this Thursday?»

It’s an ordinary Tuesday morning in January. I just got out of three hours of back-to-back meetings when this email appears. Oh yes. Team day at the beginning of the year. It’s time to talk about goals for next year.

Good.
Development goals for 2026.

My goal is to walk from Mexico to Canada following the PCT. Reaching that far north before turning 40 at the end of September. And having the best time possible along the way: being surprised and amazed by all the natural beauty I walk through, meeting as many inspiring people along the way as possible, and No Think of things like intelligent development models.

I want to fully experience the trail, in all its beauty and all its appeal, without the noise of the things that seem very important in «normal» life.

It’s time for a gap year

Because…normal life isn’t so normal, if you ask me. It is simply what we have learned to accept as normal. But who is really cut out to spend their life indoors, behind a screen, pressing letter buttons all day or clicking a strange thing called a mouse, stressed about goals and KPIs? I know I’m not.

Of course, we all need to earn a living. And I’ve been very lucky with my job and my employer. But I also need something that work can’t give me: time in the forest and in the mountains. Move my body instead of sitting all day. I long for adventure. I need to experience the beauty of the world.

So in 2021, I realized I wanted to take a gap year. You may need more than one, but let’s start with one. A break to reconnect with nature and disconnect from daily life for a while. The only thing was: I didn’t know it yet as I wanted to spend that sabbatical year.

Large backpacks and small tents

While that thought persisted, I went camping in the Alps with my then-partner. And that’s where the magic happened.

I was sitting in a camping chair on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, sunbathing and reading. Wild. I felt deeply inspired. And from time to time, when I looked up, I saw people arriving at the camp carrying large backpacks with small tents. They were doing the Tour of Mont Blanc.

A seed was planted.

The PCT seemed out of reach, but maybe a smaller road?

Multi-day hikes were not new to me. But my longest hike at the time was a four-day hike through the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. I dreamed of bigger hikes, sure, maybe two weeks. Not 4,200 kilometers.

But that little seed continued to grow.

I dove headfirst into the magical world of teams. I bought my own large backpack and my own small tent. He started saving money. I hiked trails at night in the Netherlands and Luxembourg to see if hiking with a big backpack was really as cool as it seemed.

Was.
I loved it.

Two years later, in 2023, I set up my small tent in that same Italian camp while hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc. In 2024, I walked the last two weeks of the GR5 in the French Alps. In 2025, I walked the first three weeks of that same trail to complete it.

A dream becomes a plan.

And suddenly I found myself applying for a visa. I managed to get a permit on my preferred start date in the first round of permits.

I never really decided to increase PCT. Somewhere along the way, my dream quietly turned into a plan. A plan that eclipsed all other plans and ideas. A plan for which I prepared with increasing determination.

My mind was so focused on moving towards the PCT and postponing all other major life decisions until after the PCT, which I didn’t even realize I wasn’t happy about.

It was not the time for big decisions. After the PCT, maybe. But not now.

Except… that’s not how life works.

That’s what hiking does

While walking the GR5 last summer, I couldn’t escape what I really felt. That’s what hiking does. At least for me.

I was hit in the face with everything I had been rejecting, as I dragged my tired body up the mountain. Crying, I went through foggy days with nothing to distract me. I couldn’t avoid the difficult decisions I had to make.

So I ended my relationship.

I loved him deeply and still loved him, but I realized I had to give up a lot of myself to stay. We were together for eight years. He was the first man I felt safe enough around to completely let my guard down.

Breaking up meant losing a truly wonderful person. It also meant losing my home and much of my social life and group of friends.

But I had to do it.

It hurt me. A lot.
But it was the right decision.

So, the nomadic life is

So here I am. My whole life turned upside down.

But don’t feel sorry for me. I feel alive. I haven’t felt this way in years. I’m happy.

I love my new semi-nomadic life. I have a room at my sister’s house, but I prefer to go from one place to another. It allows me to spend a lot more time outdoors. And honestly, loving this nomadic lifestyle is pretty convenient, since I’ll be living very nomadic on the PCT.

And yes… there is also a new man in my life. I’m madly in love with this kind-hearted, down-to-earth Viking double who loves the outdoors as much as I do. The timing may not be ideal, just before taking the PCT, but I don’t care. Love doesn’t follow a perfectly organized Excel planning sheet.

Dale

And now my start date is approaching. And I’m expected to talk about my career development goals for 2026 at team day.

The honest answer?

Let’s talk about them when I return in October. Now I just want to walk from Mexico to Canada along the PCT. To be surprised. Embrace both beauty and suction. Meet amazing people along the way.

I am confident that the journey will bring me some very real development goals. For example, how to keep your spirits high in the scorching heat of the desert or the freezing cold. How to use an ice axe. How to cross raging rivers. How to deal with snakes, bears, and hungry hikers.

Or maybe something truly life-changing.

Or maybe my brain will be completely occupied with the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other, while the jukebox plays in my head. 500 miles by The Proclaimers. With frequent stops to exclaim «wow» at a particularly beautiful rock or flower, or to explore the surrounding area for a good place to dig a cat den.

I honestly don’t know.

go ahead

The trail providesthey say. And so far, that has proven painfully true.

So I’m curious to know what development goals will be developed along the way, if any. But I highly doubt they fit neatly into those fancy development models I’m supposed to get into during that team day.

Let the trail come.

If you follow this blog, you’ll be the first to find out what development goals I encounter 😉