Tevis Stress Management Part II

My tried and true method for managing life's stress is: get rid of all superfluous belongings and rearrange furniture. I think I can explain the purging of belongings - it relates to the backpacking and the "great escape" from life. As long as I feel like I can walk away from "it" at any time - I'm never so "tied" down because of obligations and belongs - I can usually deal with whatever is thrown my way. This is ironic because in reality I'm a very stable, dependable, predictable person, but it's all based on the illusion that I am CHOOSING where I am.

What I failed to mention in my last post was WHY the 3 person dome tent miraculously fit in my living room.....that would be because it now contains the amount of furniture you would expect a 19 year old college student to have after 1 month of living in their new digs. After the furniture purge (and believe me - I am NOT done yet) I attacked my clothing and now a sack of clothing accompanies the furniture on the deck. That's the nice thing about large families - you never have to actually throw away something that might be useful - just re-gift it!

I've been feeling antsy lately. I've been in this "spot" in life for 3 years and I'm ready for something new. There are plans down the road but I need to stick it out here for another two years or so. I just feel so restless. Rearranging the furniture and my great escapes (backpacking and belongings purge) will have to satisfy me for now.

So why is this coming up now? Tevis has been a dream of mine for a long time. Achieving this will mean marking a life goal off my theoretical "list", which means I start thinking about my life and where it is going in general and what my next big goal/project is going to be. Like I alluded to earlier, I have several projects in mind that I will detail after getting through the Tevis. I will be taking a break from endurance until the end of the year. I do plan to ride Death Valley at the end of the year as long as the weather is nice, and in the meantime do some other (horse-related of course) adventures.