Reboot? Why not!

I hope we all are familiar with the computer term "reboot".  You know the routine: your computer is junked up and running slow as a dog on a hot southern day.  Just seconds before you drop kick it out the window, you give it one more chance.  You reboot.

Soon enough the screens are back on, you click on Explorer and ... there it is.  No hourglass.  No fans whining at full speed accompanied by strange grinding noises and nuclear reactor heat pouring from the little vents on the side.  It's back to normal ... well, at least for now. 

So why is this blog called Reboot?  Because our lives get full of debris and junk too.  Unfinished business, unreturned calls, stress from every angle and danger behind every corner.  You wake up every morning with a sense if impending doom - another repetitious day of the same old thing, followed by more of the same.  You need a clean start! 

Some people reboot every morning.  They are the chipper, happy folks you see every day that seem content to relive their existence as part of some dreadful routine.  They don't care, or perhaps they just have no memory of the day before.  I have never been able to comprehend that sector of society ... I am glad for them, but it seems they are missing out on something bigger, more important than today. 

A few lucky people "format".  They go out for a cup of coffee and disappear.  A few years later you see them featured in a magazine article talking about how they became mountain guides in Wyoming, or boat captains in the Caribbean.  We are awestruck at the courage and simultaneously dismayed at the path of destruction they left behind.  You're never quite sure if they are happy or hiding.

A reboot does not substantially alter the computer.  You have the same programs.  You have the same files.  Everything is in the same place, or even better, where it is supposed to be.  But all of the clutter and debris and stuck processes and overloaded memory that was causing the slowdown is gone.  I sometimes refer to a reboot as a "fresh start".  Now we are getting somewhere ... sometimes we ALL need a fresh start. 

So how do you reboot a human?  No handy on/off switch, so the best you can do is go radical and just unplug from the wall.  In my case it involves heading off on an adventure. 

I will talk about life altering experiences, and the Zen of hiking, and the joy of being outside in the woods with no cell signal.  I will post about long workouts, and aching calves, and assorted disasters.  I will document my journey and tell you about how I reboot myself.  I will even let you know if it was successful. 

Starting on June 22 I am embarking on a 90+ mile backpacking trip on a section of the Appalachian Trail. I will get into details as we go ... we have three months together to prep for this trip!

I hope to gain additional perspective and insight by sharing my thoughts and experiences here on this blog.  I also hope that I can inspire you to find your own personal on/off switch, take some time off from your everyday life, reach down, throw that switch,  and see what happens!  I can't guarantee your life, or my life for that matter, will become magically better,  but I can say with some assurance that you will definitely be better off for having at least tried. 

Join me as I reboot my life on the Appalachian Trail.