“The Man in the High Castle” on Amazon Prime tells the story of an alternative reality where Germany and Japan win World War 2 and occupy the United States of America. In the last episode the main male character, who was a US Army soldier had become the U.S. leader of the Reich and his wife has now joined the resistance (unknown to her husband). Both are now on a high-speed train heading to a destination, that goes on a bridge, where the resistance has placed explosives to kill them. In this scenario the wife starts asking her husband these questions: How did we get here? When did we cross the line to go from being Americans fighting the Nazi to becoming them? How did we become such evil people that that we are killing our friends who are Jewish or Black? Where and how does this end for us? As I start the New Year, my reflection of the past year, makes me ask these same types of questions in my hiking, personal, and work life.
In hiking, Have I strayed off course in any ways? Has my hiking become obsessive to the point that it affects my family time? Have I become over confident and am starting to take risks that I would have never taken before? Examples of this include: Doing new trails for the first time by myself, Going on trails by myself that and not telling anyone, Not taking my backpack or taking it without having the 10 Essentials, Not getting the proper rest between hikes.
In my personal life, have I strayed off course? What is my relationship with my spouse, children, and friends? Are there wrongs and hurts from the past year that need to be addressed? Are there financial issues that need to be corrected? Am I staying within my budget? How is my rest: Am I getting enough sleep? Do I do intentional rest?
At work, have I picked up any habits that are not healthy for me? Am I taking too long of lunch hours? Have I started coming in later and leaving earlier? Am I spending time on my phone when I should be working? How much time do I spend multitasking at work? Do I use company resources to surf the internet? Am I glossing over areas that need more detail?
Timothy Ferris in his book: The 4-Hour work week, says: “I believe success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations we are willing to have”. This Trail Tip can lead to a lot of those uncomfortable conversations. The question is: Are you and me willing to have them? And what will be the cost to us if we don’t have them?
Al Andersen 