As any of us know who have taken big, protracted adventures: it’s more of a mental endurance test than it is physical.
Not that we won’t be tested physically. If your next adventure is going to push you beyond where you’ve been and deliver the kind of emotional triumph you seek, it will likely challenge you physically, maybe more than anything you’ve done before.
But even as we are pushing our bodies and wringing every last ounce of our energy to complete a day’s goal, the mental game will be the bigger test over the long run.
Once your body adapts to the daily grind (which it eventually will), that’s about when the mind games begin. When you settle in for the long middle section, and the novelty of the road or trail or river starts to wear off. When the change of scene starts to slow down and revelation turns into monotony. I’m talking about when that dangerous little question starts to seep into your mind: why?
Why am I doing this again? What’s the point? Why am I putting myself through this pain? Why did I imagine I could conquer this challenge?
No Reason
I’ve heard and had to overcome the whys before, we all have. They can be incessant and self-destructive, eating away at your aspirations from the inside.
I expect to hear the whys again on my own upcoming adventure, a north-south thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.
These whys attack when you’re at your weakest. When things hurt the most. When your feet are burning with every step. When your quads are refusing to power up that next hill. When you want to curl up in a fetal position and go to sleep but the mosquitoes are buzzing loud in your ear.
It’s at those moments when you must remind yourself: you are not responsible for answering that question. There is no answer. There is no reason. You are simply doing what you are doing, end of story. Nobody needs to know why, not even your nagging inner voice.
6 Tips
To ease such moments of questioning amid adventure – to help mitigate the draining effects of the whys and prepare your mindset for your next long-haul endeavor – I offer these six mental training notions. These concepts are intended to be incorporated into your pre-departure routine, as part of your run-up to adventure readiness.
- Visualize. This is a vitally important first step. It sets up your mind for building toward success and making happen what you set out to achieve. Look toward your upcoming journey and create detailed scenes of what you imagine it will look and feel like. Close your eyes for best effect and take a few deep breaths. Imagine yourself in the scene as you want to be, to feel. Strong. Joyful. Successful and triumphant. Fill in as much detail as you can. The more specific your imagined picture of the near-future is, the more you will assist your mind in making that picture become reality in the moment.
- Project. This exercise is similar, but more practical than the visualization step. Again, look ahead through your adventure, but this time take into account all that could happen, the dangers, the unexpected mishaps, even worst-case scenarios. This will prepare your mind for resiliency in the moments – and there will very likely be some – when things don’t go your way. This is an exercise to gird your mind for dealing with whatever happens, and not crumble when something goes wrong. If nothing unfortunate happens, wonderful, you won’t need to deal with setbacks. But it’s better to be mentally prepared going in.
- Chunk it Down. Big goals are made of small goals strung together. You may have a big aspiration in front of you, but when you’re in the middle of it, it’s best to break it down into smaller goals, daily, weekly, monthly, the next town or the next big meal. It can be daunting and overwhelming to always be thinking about your big end goal. Chunking it down into bite-size pieces eases the mental burden. All you have to do is make it to the next rest stop. Then the next one, and so on.
- Build in Flexibility. From the outset of planning your adventure, adopt a mindset of flexibility. Be ready to shift your goals on any given day, and adapt to realities on the ground. Listen to your body and allow your plans to change as necessary, when you’re simply too tired to achieve a goal, or the weather turns bad, or you’re running low on food, or you discovered the perfect camping spot right next to a refreshing mountain lake. Know that your short-term goals will have to be malleable and that on any given day things can change. Allow that change. Be willing to give yourself permission to adapt.
- Don’t be a Hero. Go at your pace, hike your hike, not anyone else’s. Everyone has different abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Go into your adventure knowing that you may not comfortably align with the pace set by someone else. You may be a faster hiker than your hiking buddy, or you might cycle a little slower than your companion. It’s fine to slow down or move ahead and separate momentarily or for a day. If you want, make a plan to meet at a designated place down the trail or road and regroup. But if it’s creating a drag on your experience, don’t push too hard just to keep up with someone else.
- Enjoy it. That is, after all, at least part of the point. Aim to be in the moment as much as possible on your adventure. Take in your surroundings, engage all your senses and absorb the full experience. Appreciate each moment (even the painful ones). Don’t become so consumed with finishing the task that you forget to enjoy getting there. You are lucky to be taking this adventure.
Happy adventures!