Hello Everyone,
Any journey or goal has hurdles. Some are few and easy. Some are many and difficult. Some are natural hurdles like needing a degree or education for a job, learning to walk before you can run, etc...
Some are self imposed hurdles. For example, running a 5k race. You could just sign up and run a 5k despite your physical condition. You don't even have to train ahead of time if you don't want to. You could even run in high heels if that's your thing. Most people would try some kind of training. Maybe start at gym and do a scheduled workout or start walking around the block and eventually start jogging around the block. Whatever you choose to do before the official start of the race is entirely up to you.
Geocaching Route 66 has some natural hurdles; TIME, MONEY, and ENERGY.
TIME is going to be the easiest one to jump...for the most part. Professionally, I'm a funeral director. As you can imagine, funeral directors have odd schedules especially since the industry is a 24-7 beast. Someone always has to be on call, work evenings, and/or deal with families at emotional times. My work schedule has me working 10 days in row (which two nights are when I am on call). I then get to enjoy a four day weekend off. Next year, I'll have 10 vacation days. My plan is to take my 10 days off in a row which, bookended with 2 four day weekend off, will give me a stretch of 18 days work free. I don't think I can complete the whole Historic Route 66 in 18 days, but I am planning on revisiting yearly until I complete Route 66 on a beach in California. The only major decision I have to make is when to start this journey.
MONEY is a hurdle in just about anything we do. I mentioned before I am going to have to do this on some kind of shoestring budget. Because of recent situations (including someone totaling my van in an accident) that shoestring budget might get a little tighter. I do have a couple of action plans to help me in this area which I will talk about in future blogs. So, another part of the game plan for Route 66 will be starting in Chicago and go as far as I can until I either run out of time or money.
ENERGY will be an interesting hurdle. Driving, exploring, site seeing, geocaching, and blogging every day for many days in a row could demand quite a bit of energy. I also have to admit I struggle with energy levels on a daily basis. I currently weight the more than I ever have...over 300 pounds. I am also way over dependent on nicotine and caffeine to keep me going through out the day. Along with working odd hours, this will be my biggest challenge. A lot of my action plans will be helping me over coming this hurdle.
To help me jump these hurdles, I have chosen a few game/action plans. This is where most of my blogging prior to Route 66 will be about...Quit Smoking, Quit Drinking Pop, Start Working Out, and Start Eating Better.
In my next blog, I will randomly select one these actions. I will then continue to randomly pick a new plan to start each month for the next 3-4 months.
In the meantime, feel free to write a comment in the comment section below. Let me know what you think. If you think about it, I have basically put you in a spot to be my accountability partner(s) and your feedback would be an asset in my journey. Also, if you struggle in these areas as well, let me know. I'd love to hear your stories. Did you start yet? Are you in the middle of your journey? Did you over come some hurdles yourself?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Until next time...Enjoy Life...hurdles and all.
Rich
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