Thursday 12th April 2018
Today was all about pushing myself and getting momentum rolling in a particular direction. Dominated by our preps, drive to, and walk on the big expedition hike today as part of my risk assessing part of the route for next week's Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award expedition that I will be leading. 27 students, 2 days, one goal: to demonstrate that we can survive and be self-sufficient out on an expedition. If it sounds easy to you, just remember that for many of the children it is the first time they have ever walked this far, camped in the outdoors, carried a heavy rucksack, cooked their own complete meal from start to finish. (The single most frequently-asked question on our DofE Bronze Expeditions is 'How do I know when the water is boiling?' and this is despite us doing a practical cooking session and teaching them how to tell... The second most frequently-asked question on our DofE Bronze Expeditions is 'Where are the toilets?' and their faces are a picture when they hear the reply 'The bushes and trees out on the trails'...)
More pheasants than you could shake a stick at which kept Hector the whippet dog on his toes (literally) for a lot of the day. The River Wye was flooded along our whole route and was in Judy's words "very dramatic". Best of all, a real breakthrough for our son Frankie who didn’t moan once throughout the whole, very misty 12km, he was a real trooper! This is the longest walk that he has been on, and although he informed us that his feet ached and that he was getting tired, he hardly slowed his pace and kept on to the end with a lot of determination. I am very proud of him, and pleased with all of us for making a lovely (if very foggy) family day of what was basically me risk assessing Day 2 of our expedition route for next week's expedition.
Writing
No writing for me today apart from the usual blog posts and comments, which amounted to a couple of thousand words as always but which I never count in my word totals as I want them to reflect very specific goals.
Health
I'm very pleased with the distances that we walked today in just a few hours. My food intake was a lot healthier (something about being outdoors) and I drank a lot more water. It felt so good to be out on hikes again and the momentum is now rolling. Great too that Frankie and Judy came and brought Hector along. We had a lovely day together, and I am already planning the next one. :-)
Steemit Goals
My Steemit goals are coming along bit by bit. By not focusing on them, just noticing them, I am healthily detached from them as an outcome. I just trust that if I am doing what I want to be doing then results will come in time. I think that I will hit 1000 posts long before I hit 1000 followers, and we shall see I suppose. I am enjoying reading other people's content and focusing on meaningful commenting.
I'm getting there anyways, and today was just one more step in that right direction. I'll be charting my progress as I go and we'll see what works and what does not work for me. And hopefully, some of what I learn along the way will be useful to some of you, too.
Peace be with you all xxxx
Frankie and I on our expedition hike earlier today.
I should mention @angelacs SIBWA Challenge too - the reason behind my managing to post every day on Steemit and develop not just good habits and also develop my consciousness as well.
She has a new challenge beginning each Sunday, so look out for those posts as they go up. I heartily recommend giving her challenge a go though - it is free, it is fun, and it gets me active on Steemit each day in a way that brings value to others, so imagine what doing the challenge can do for you! :-) See you in the challenge posts ;-)