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Unrealized dreams and/or goals

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Inky_Wretch, Apr 30, 2008.

  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Cleaning out some bookshelves, I came across my cache of books about the Appalachian Trail.

    In the early 1990s, my dream was to quit my corporate gig, load a backpack and head to Georgia one April. From there, I was going to walk the 2,170+ miles of the AT until I reached Mount Katahdin in Maine.

    I started doing a lot of hiking and backpacking in preparation for it. I started getting books about the AT. I started slowly getting the gear I'd need and plotting supply drops along the trail.

    My goal was to do it in 1995, but that was the year I jumped from corporate America back to newspapering. Then I was going to do it in 1998, but that's the year I met my wife. Each year, the dream was pushed a little further back in my mind.

    Now, I realize it'll probably never, ever happen. I can't take off for six months now, like I could years ago. And I'm OK with that.

    So what unrealized dreams/goals are you OK with not achieving?

    (No, not two chicks at the same time. Or nailing a certain celebrity. I'm talking about realistic dreams, not fantasies.)
     
  2. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Inky, I think you still could do that hike. Make a plan and see if you can pull it off.

    It might be possible to do it in segments, using a week or 10 days of vacation at a time. Maybe you could get a sabbatical.

    I've had similar thoughts about that hike but never seriously entertained them. From what I understand, the final push in the White Mountains can be pretty hairy.

    I'd love to rent an RV and make a loop around the country to fish, hunt and see the sights. That's not far-fetched and will be done in the future.

    I'd love to spend about 5-6 weeks in the Big Bend in Florida, canoeing and seeing the relatively undeveloped areas along the Gulf. There are some throwback camps and communities that haven't been "upscaled" yet.
     
  3. Brooklyn Bridge

    Brooklyn Bridge Well-Known Member

    I knew a kid out of college who lived in London for a year. Sure he came from money, but looking back, I'm like "damn, that'd be cool." I always wanted to backpack through Europe, taking the trains, living in hostels, nailing hot european chicks.....
     
  4. dreunc1542

    dreunc1542 Active Member

    Inky, one of my friends hiked the Appalachian Trail last summer. The stories he told when he got back were amazing and it's something I'd like to try at some point.
     
  5. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    Two chicks at the same time

    Damn, I should have read the whole post.
     
  6. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    As a man passing 50 with his foot to the floor, I'll say this: It's fantastically important to keep your life dreams vivid, alive and out there in front of you.
     
  7. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Oh yes, absolutely agree.

    But as I've gotten older, my dreams have changed. From spending six months hiking the AT to spending a week catching wild trout in a Colorado stream, for example.
     
  8. In Exile

    In Exile Member

    While dreams and goals might change, it's important to keep picking out things you don't know how to do and try to do them, to keep adding things to you bag of tricks - since turning 45 I've learned to ski, ice skate, kayak and play really lousy versions of a couple dozen Neil Young songs on the guitar.

    Think I might try to learn French next - ooh-la-la moi petite vichyssoise is about all I've got - or fish. Maybe both.

    You really should take a week and at least do part of the AT. The part along the border of Maine and NH is great fun - I got hypothermic there once and saw leprechauns sitting under the pine trees telling me to lay down and take a nap.

    Let me know if they're still there.
     
  9. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    I have always wanted to go on a weeks- or months-long sea-faring research trip, like a Jacques Cousteau expedition, or something.

    I love the ocean and have always had a passion for marine biology. In school, I wasn't great at science, or anything -- hence, my journalistic leanings -- but this stuff has always interested me.

    I would love to go on something related to ocean conservation and preservation, or be involved in research on marine-mammal communication and social interaction.

    It is probably the one and only thing in the world for which I might be tempted to just drop a career, drop everything, to go and do, should the opportunity ever arise.

    Besides newspapers, this has always been my ''other'' passion, a lifelong one.
     
  10. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    About 10 years ago, at about 18 or 19, I took my first ride on a Black Hawk. Doors open, the wind whipped through the cargo area, and the pilot buzzed the treetops and made turns that would make most folks yak. I always put it off, put it off. The right time never came, never came. Got married, sent the wife back to school, yada yada yada. I finally made my mind up to do it. I quit work, went back to school, got my commission and was selected to become an Army MEDEVAC pilot. In a few short weeks, I'll take the controls for the first time. I'll probably piss my pants.
     
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