Hiking The Blues Away And Hope My Knee Doesn't Crap Out

Ok, so this is really going to happen….. 

In the next couple of days, I’ll be going off to hike in the northern mountains of Corsica. The hike is part of a much longer trail called the GR20. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone though… not exactly anyway. It’ll all depend on my knee.  

Rewind to six months ago…. 

I sign up for a week long trail hike in Corsica. Probably (most likely) my version of a mid-life crisis (thinking I should have bought the sports car…ha!) 

Anyway, end of April rolls around and I tear my ACL in my left knee in an Ultimate game. I was so upset thinking I’d have to abandon my Corsica hike, but…. 

Two months later, my orthopedic surgeons tells me my ACL is only partly torn and when I asked him about possibly doing the GR20 north, he shrugs his shoulders and says, why not? It’d all depend on my physical therapy and recovery…. 

So, fast forward to today, and here I am packing my bag. I never canceled my trip and I've decided to risk doing the hike. I may only last a couple of days, or maybe I'll last longer …. nothing is certain at this point. Hell, I may not come back at all…. I know, I have a penchant for the melodramatic, can’t help it, it’s the writer in me,  ;)  

Should I have postponed my hike until next year? 

Probably. 

But you know what? Next year isn’t promised. Hell, tomorrow isn’t either. 

So why do this at all? Well, I believe experiences make us happy or at least happier. I’ve seen what years of boredom and sitting in front of the tv day in and day out does to people. Heck, I bet most of us know or knew someone like that and they typically end up being paranoid, lonely, grouchy individuals and it rarely ends well for them. But going out and doing new things, traveling, meeting new people, experiencing the 'awe effect', that’s what energizes us and changes us in positive ways. When you think about it, experience adds to the total sum of who we are as individuals.

And as I get older, I find myself looking at life as just a handful of hours given to us at birth. Some of us have lots of hours to spend, while some very few, and others are given only mere seconds. And when you start to look at your life in terms of hours spent, you find yourself wanting to spend less of your time on the trivial and the material, and more time with people and experiences that bring you fulfillment and ultimately that crazy dash of happiness. I read an article that talked about how we are more likely to connect with people we meet on vacations, or parties, or other shared events, than we are with those who just bought the same exact car or iphone…. experience vs material. Makes sense. 

And remember, experience makes us better writers! 

So, from now I’m going to spend more of my hours doing positive things, being around positive people, and hope my knee doesn’t buckle at 8,500 feet.  ;P

Happy Trails All !!

TLDR: Going on a hike, go do stuff, don’t be a dick.