goals...
Do you ever wake up, stare at the ceiling and just think to yourself that you just don't feel like doing anything? Well, combine that feeling with the movie Groundhog Day. Living with PTSD and depression is like that for me. I rely on routine to get me through the day. Get up, get dressed, make breakfast for my daughter and my lunch for me, get out the door and take her to school, go to work (try not to stress out while I am there), get a workout in, come home, veg out and go to bed. That's the basics, and yes, there is personal hygiene and a few other things in that routine but you get the picture.
I don't routinely have goals other than make it through the day. Likely a side effect of my mental status and that sucks. How does that compare to before you might ask? Well, in my earlier days I loved a good challenge and tried to set high goals for myself.
However, since my last deployment and separating from the military I find that having goals is a tough thing.
It was chance that I found hiking as a medicating solution. The overall goal in a long hike is huge but the day by day or hour by hour goal is much smaller; one more step, one more mile. After every goal is reached you already know what the next goal is. You do it again, one more mile at a time till you find yourself at the end of your journey. At the end of that journey it's on to the next. This combines goals and routine, both are what I need and both translate well in the healing process for my mental health.
On this hike I have decided to add additional goals:
Complete the hike (duh)
Stay positive (this is a very difficult task for someone with depression)
Document my journey regularly (daily )
Workout my upper body with push-ups etc. (why you ask, my legs will get all the working out but I don't wanna loose upper body strength. So if I find energy then I will try and to upper body exercise)
Eat as healthy as the trail will allow (I hear this is a tough task just because trail food is inherently unhealthy and calorie to weight ratio is far more important)
So those are five goals I set myself. Am I being realistic, who knows? Is it doable, of course it is!
My most important goal, of course, is to become "a Lane more traveled…”
