I love to hike, that's something that has simply always been a part of my life. This past summer, I was fortunate enough to complete my first thru hike, the Long Trail in Vermont in 21 days as a 19 year old solo girl. I wish I could say that I loved every minute, but lets just say I loved most minutes. I learned, very quickly, that thru hiking is a different animal than your leisurely afternoon hike up Mt. Monadnock. Despite all of the discomfort I went through, I came out of that experience a stronger person and I am already looking forward to hiking the Appalachian Trail after college. Another thing I learned when I was out there, is that thru hikers are crazy! I came across this article today (click HERE for article) detailing tips from the man who RAN the Appalachian Trail in just 45 days. To be clear, the AT is a 2,190 mile trail stretching from Georgia to Maine, and most people would do it in 3-5 months. Months!! Karl Meltzer set the world reccord in a fraction of that time. The life tips that he gives in the article are specific to hiking, but it seems to me that they apply to everything in life. To wrap this up, here is my favorite tip he gives:
"A big part of why I do this is because I really like to struggle. Not because I like pain. (I don’t.) But because I love the feeling of making progress. And to make progress you’ve got to struggle. Nobody grows from staying in their comfort zone. Once you’ve adopted this mindset, failure isn’t this scary thing to be avoided anymore." -Karl Meltzer With the advent of the holiday season comes the height of shopping season. For the past two years REI has made the decision to close down on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, in an effort to encourage people to "Opt Outside". I came across an article on Fortune that delves into this decision (click HERE for article). This article clearly describes how REI cares to stress the importance of outdoor and real life experiences over material goods, and how this message "resonates with the company's core customer base". I would consider myself a part of REI's "core customer base" (mostly because of the sheer amount of outdoors gear I've purchased there in the past 19 years) and to me this is a very honorable initiative, especially during the peak of shopping season. In addition to the message this sends to the public, the Opt Outside initiative also is great for REI's employees. During my 21 day thru hike of the Long Trail in Vermont, one of the thru hikers I met along the way (trail name "Spotlight") was a middle manager at an REI. Her love for her job and insistance on how great of a company it was to work for proved to me that REI is truly doing it right. Despite the losses in money they must take on Black Friday, I'm sure that they more than make up for it with employee satisfaction and customer loyalty. They will forever have my business, that's for sure.
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