Hike More, Shake Less.

The last 33 years has made me one shaky dude. I went to lunch with one of my best friends the other day and I kept spinning the menu around and around and around and finally she just said...."Abram STOP!" There are lots of reason to be anxious and shaky. Marriage, raising kids, performing at ones career especially in the context of a bad economy, your health and the health of your loved ones. Back in college I used to rock climb. Now mind you the best cliff face I ever scaled was a 5.7 or 5.8 because I am built more like a gorilla than a monkey, but one of the things I remember the most climbing was the sense of complete focus. It's you, the rock, and inner peace. Lately, I have been finding that in walking / hiking. The stress my own brain has caused myself over the past 33 years has undoubtedly taken years off the end of my life. I therefore pledge from this day forward to hike more and shake less. I have taken some big hikes. The Tetons, from Hood to the Gorge and of course the 500 mile trek from California to Washington via the Cascade range. I have always found clarity in the singular focus of hiking. Realizing this and in the midst of the most stressful months of my life (merger, hospitalization, etc.) I started walking. November I went 10 miles. December I stepped up to 20 and last month I walked 40. I have the new years goal to walk 500 miles between Jan 1st and May 22nd my 33rd birthday. When I achieve that goal, the shaking will be gone, I know it.