Papa hiker's video: Dark thoughts on trekkings Real life tips for a positive mental attitude

I am talking from experience. Negative thoughts can make you give up, have less fun and even get in danger. There are things you can do to keep your outlook positive and to think things that will help you achieve your goals AND HAVE FUN ALONG THE WAY. Please understand that I am not an expert on mental health, and that if you are in need of serious help, you should start with your MD. I do have experience in completing difficult trekkings (well, not as difficult as some people do, but difficult for me) and overcoming periods where it seems hopeless, the end goal seems too far away, the weather and the terrain seems to conspire against you and you have (worst thing in the world) blisters or a busted ankle or knee. Yep, all of the above and more. In this video there is a part about smoking and over-eating. Breaks down like this: Many people will say that quitting smoking is easier than breaking your unhealthy eating pattern. That is because quitting smoking is a hard, but very clear instruction: just don't smoke. For eating this is different. You can not not eat. Otherwise you die. So even if you are very motivated to eat less, you still need to eat something, which could get out of hand. That is the same with thinking negative thoughts. Negative thoughts about things that are not related to your trip: suppress completely. That is hard to do, but a very clear goal. Negative thoughts that do have to do with your trip (and there are many of those, like: I am going too slow. Did I bring the wrong socks, should I go over the pass or through the valley. Oh stinkers, the valley turns out to be soggy and slow, did I make the wrong route decision?) should not be blocked out completely because they can be very functional. This makes dealing with those much harder. My tips about these trip related things are: -worry within a certain time frame -don't worry about things in the past (like the socks. Just deal with it) -worry about the route, but only if you can still change your plan. Once you are 100% committed to say, the valley route in stead of the mountain, just deal with that and stop comparing your choice to all the alternatives. -Your speed will be lower in the first days, and increase in the last days. So don't worry about making your distance too soon. -If you are going to sing songs in your head, learn the lyrics. Otherwise you will be stuck with half a refrain for days on end. :-) -move your thoughts towards things and not away from things. It's hard to tell yourself not to think of broken legs, but it's easy to tell yourself to think of boat building. For example. -THINK WINNING THOUGHTS. You are achieving things. That is good. Of course you are also not achieving things, but who cares? I tell myself every time I go up north that it would be nice to spot a brown bear and a sea eagle. This happens almost never. But hey, maybe next year. (UPDATE: SPOTTED A SEA EAGLE ON LAST TRIP, EVEN HAVE IT ON CAMERA) If you think about being tired, you will be tired. I once failed at taking the high route I intended (low cloud base for a week, something that didn't cross my mind in preparation. Dumb lowlander), but happily declared myself "king of the marshes" and slugged through two feet of peat for three days. Doesn't look very glamourous, but man I was proud when I reached the village of Snaase, center of the south Sami culture. Follow me on facebook! https://www.facebook.com/papahiker The music is me and my daughter very amateurishly playing "Une minute" by the wonderful Pomme. https://youtu.be/poWHL_7E2qM Stupidly I sang "la part de ton hombre" which should have been la peur de ton hombre.