“Only what you bring with you.”
Spoken in my worst Yoda voice when asked, “what’s in there?” A reference to Luke Skywalker entering the cave on Degobah.
We got interested in finding and exploring caves after we found one Geocaching. After we learned some rope work we were more confident in descending, knowing we could get back out. Passageways can be vertical or horizontal and squeezing through is often required. YOU CAN’T BRING MUCH WITH YOU WHEN YOU ENTER A CAVE. Not much fits on the outside that doesnt get in the way and in a more anxious and fearful way, not much can be unresolved on the inside.
” Get out of your Head!”
Told to me when I was paralyzed on a steep scree chute in GNP attempting a mountain summit waiting for a rockslide to kill us.
When stripped of external material things, you are left with inner baggage. Some of which is heavy, some paralyzing, some a clear distortion of outer reality created by past experiences that have nothing to do with the current situation. But we think it does, and as we ‘ live in our head’ we come face to face with fears, abuse, sadness, anger, loneliness dumped in our rucksack of our minds which weighs us down and prevents progress along our journey of discovery.
Some people can transform as they go. They are the ones that can tweek their diets and lose weight. They take baby steps and are disciplined enough to have those add up to meaningful change they sought. I have never lost weight that way. ALL OR NOTHING unfortunately has been the best formula for me.
I sold almost everything except what would fit in my truck and a small cargo trailer. Thinking that having shed the external baggage, I could now focus on the internal. It didnt work; I am not disciplined enough. And so now i will strip down to only what will fit in a backpack…and walk. A thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is more a mental game after the first 400 miles. If I can physically make 400 miles in 40 days, I will spend the next 1800 miles and next 175-ish days on an internal trek. It will mostly be an internal battle from there on. Many emotional struggles, learning to let go, practicing mental discipline, dealing with all the dark forces that keep me from being one with the Eternal. I look forward to the exploration of the inner self, the shedding of external and internal baggage, the transformation, and the ‘getting out of my head’. On this A.T. thru-hike, I am entering the cave.
Adventures with Antonio Manchego 