“I had spent the last several months trying to forge a better relationship with myself, my goals, my expectations, what I valued, and where I spent my time and energy. I hoped to use the trail as a reconditioning tool, to stop looking so far ahead and find true pleasure in the present moment. I had steeped myself in knowledge of the great masters, sayings like “To travel well is better than to arrive,” and, “The journey is the reward." I was shedding my life of destinations with only a bare tolerance for the journeys between them.”