75% Mental, 25% Physical – The Trek

That number could be 99.9% and I would certainly be in that top 0.1%.

What makes me so confident that I will complete the course? What about injuries, illnesses and family emergencies?

Sure, injuries and illnesses have plagued me on previous hikes, but I persevered. When I say I’m going to do something, I put everything I say behind it. No doubt.

So I say this, the hike can be done physically by almost anyone capable, but the mental aspects keep most away.

Doubt leads to failure

I have had many doubts in my life and every time I have failed. Hiking is one of the two things I have no doubt I’m better at than most. It is not just about moving your legs and carrying a backpack, but about the mental strength to overcome the mental barriers that are often the cause of physical injuries due to the lack of said mental barriers. Your mind is more powerful than your physical abilities.

Anyone of good health and age can physically hike any long-distance trail. Mentally, you have to be tougher than most and most people leave when the going gets tough. I’ve seen it in everything outside of the realm of hiking. Work, relationships, mental health, politics, conversations, etc.

So while others may fail, and that is often difficult to see even from my perspective, achieving my goals will not be easy, but they will be achieved.

My goals are my goals

My goals have nothing to do with hiking the Appalachian Trail; In fact, I don’t even want to walk the trail!

While I’m on the road, my goals aren’t how many miles I covered in a day, nor how long it will take me to finish, what I’ll eat, or where I’ll sleep. My Goals are the following:

End of social media: I have discovered for myself that social media has been worse for my mental health than anything else.

I have already deactivated Facebook, 3 Instagram accounts and will also do my AT Instagram when finished.

Social media, to me, is a way for people to see you, but not really care. They can see what you’re doing, what you’ve done, and who you’ve been, but do they care enough to call you or talk to you in person? No. My goal is to connect with people who really care, who want to talk in person, and who really want to be involved in my life and theirs. So what, you have a thousand friends on Facebook or thousands of followers on Instagram. Do you even talk to 10% of them? I don’t believe it. Keeping friends close, the ones who really matter, that’s what’s important to me.

Second objective – Lifestyle. We all (I imagine) want a better life. Nice house, car, family, vacation, work, etc. It’s time to stop focusing on getting by and focus on living well. New job, new house, no exceptions.

3rd objective: be the one that no one else will do. Mental health has had a huge impact on my life. I beat depression on my PCT in 2018 and have never felt depressed since. I know how hard it was before the hike and I know others are dealing with it all the time. I would like to start some non-profit organization or something to help those who need help. We don’t usually ask for help and that often leads to undesirable results.

4th objective – Time. People often say that we don’t have enough time to do certain things, that time escapes us. Time does not control us, rather we control time, we simply choose to waste time instead of doing something meaningful. Your time is important, don’t let others waste your time like most do with me. Take your time with another person who appreciates you and values ​​your time.

The perfect time to do anything is when YOU want to do it. Climb the AT to improve, that’s the perfect time. I have no desire to walk the trail itself, but my time is now and I’m not going to let anything stop me from improving. My time is important whether anyone else sees it or not.

25% of hikers finish the AT

It is an impressive feat to have hiked the entire AT. After completing the PCT in 2018, I finally realized how impressive it is when I saw hundreds and maybe a couple thousand people abandon the trail, sometimes just 100 miles from the end. Of course, completing the trail doesn’t mean you get everything you hoped you would have liked to achieve while hiking for months, but it does show that your mental ability to keep going, through all the days, nights, and everything in between, says something about who you are as a person.

Each person is on their own journey and it is not for me to dictate whether you are successful in your journey or not. My sole purpose is to focus on myself, my journey, and the goals I set out to achieve.

I wish everyone the best, but also the statistics often say that they only finish around 25% and I have no doubt that I will finish the course itself, but my goals, I can only hope that I can keep going and break those mental barriers that I have for myself.

This is where my name ‘Clay Nemo’ will come into play. Not my real name, but who I will become and I will go into more depth on that in the next few posts.

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