Changing the Geometry of Success What if we looked at changing the geometry of success? Look up the word “success” in the dictionary, and you’ll find some version of the following definition:  The accomplishment or achievement of one’s goals. The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors. These definitions frustrate me, because they imply that success is linear. Going back to high school geometry, I’d say that success as it is defined above would be categorized as a line segment. You have a starting point when you set a goal. You have an endpoint when you achieve it. You’re Read more

Acceptance - A Lesson from the Appalachian Trail I have just returned from my ninth year of walking the Appalachian Trail. This year’s section was 115 miles in southern Pennsylvania, traveled on foot over the course of 10 days, with everything I need for survival and comfort strapped to my back. The challenge of hiking this trail over the course of the past nine years has broken me down and rebuilt me, forever altering my life outlook. It’s difficult to put all of what I feel into words, although I did try in my last post An Ode to the Read more

An Ode to the Appalachian Trail I’m preparing for my ninth year of section hiking the Appalachian Trail, or the AT as it is commonly referred to by the hiking community. As I assemble various bags of oatmeal, snacks, and dehydrated meals, and attempt to stuff my sleeping bag and tent into my cavernous backpack, I am both contemplative and grateful. I stand by the statement that the AT has changed my life. I owe so much of who I am today to the challenges, triumphs, and camaraderie that I have experienced by walking along this four foot wide path Read more

Challenge accepted, a first step to hiking the Appalachian Trail The summer before my 40th birthday I decided to attempt a 105-mile hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail is 2,190 miles long. With an average of 2,000 steps/mile, that’s approximately 4.4 million steps. A little daunting and overwhelming to say the least.  I often feel the same way about the rest of this wide, wonderful, crazy world we live in. There are a lot of struggles and issues being experienced by all living things, human and non-human alike. When I scroll through the never-ending newsreel of catastrophes, Read more