Some background first…
The day before I went for a long hike (long is relative BTW) I told my friend Arun that I was planning to go on a hike the next day. Arun asked me – “So where are you going?” And I proudly mentioned that it was “Rancho San Antonio,” he just laughed and said – “It is not a hike, it’s a walk.”
Of course, he would said that being an avid hiker. For me, being on the hiking trails for the first time, it was definitely a HIKE.
Why share the background?
Simply because I know there will be some other avid hikers out there who will dispute my claim that I went for a hike 🙂
I went to Rancho San Antonio Open Space Reserve with my friend Sanjai who I have known for 20 years or so. We took the Wildcat Loop Trail to go to the top of the mountain. It took us more than two hours to go to the top of the mountain and come back. The elevation was about 900 ft. While it was a gorgeous day, I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was sweating by the time we reached the top of the mountain.
The view from the top of the mountain made it all worth it.
What made the journey (and sweating) more meaningful was the discussions we had throughout the hike and back. The topics ranged from work, life, philosophy, simply catching up on our journey so far, some strategy, marketing ideas and what we both should really focus on in the coming years, what investments we need to make on ourselves in the coming year. Most importantly the key aspect was the brutal feedback that we both had for each other to grow and making more meaning in our lives.
The hike was exhausting but I am glad that I used my own advice of having a second reason to do something significant.
This was a clear case where I was totally recharged by all the sweating that went into this hike.
I was reflecting back on the trip and this is what I think made it more meaningful for both of us:
We planned this hike a few days ago and from that day onwards, we kept exchanging emails on what we should be talking about during our hike. On the day of the hike, we could have talked about many things including movies and games but since there were a ton of subjects pending (based on the growing list) we didn’t have the time to digress on the topics. So the combination that evolved was
Hike (Fun) + Talk (Relevant and Timely) = Time Spent (Meaningful)
What also helped was that we both didn’t have major expectations from this little hike we were going on. So there was no pressure on treating this like a project or something to start with.
Now I am sure all of you are recharged for the upcoming week – so wish you a great week ahead!