Date: 2016-02-24
From: US 19 near Mt Harbor Hostel

To: Room in House on Lake Holston
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It felt great to change out of my hiker clothes into jeans when I arrived at the AT crossing on US 19 yesterday afternoon. I jumped into my car and hit the Lone Star Steakhouse for dinner on the way back to my room at Lake Holston. Great news¢¦ I have my first sponsor! (sound of big band playing with much cheering and clapping) Footscientific.com makes the Elevate Foot Brace that I've been wearing for the past year while I'm hiking. It keeps me from tripping on my left foot since my toes aren't too good at lifting up with each step. If you look at today¢s photo you can see the brace on my left foot. This condition, which was caused by my injury three years ago is called foot drop. Fortunately, it¢s slowly getting better but for now the brace helps keep my foot up and also works to stabilize my ankle and keep it from spraining when I step on any uneven rocks. Hopefully I can help someone else to walk or hike better by spreading the word about the Elevate Foot Brace. I think it¢s fun to have a sponsor. (I had a few sponsors 35 years ago when I used to race motocross) I just emailed Foot Scientific to ask if they would sponsor me by providing a replacement brace at no charge, and they said yes!Over all, my leg and foot are doing much better this year as compared to last year when I first started my thru-hike. Most of the pain that I felt last year has transitioned into sensations of numbness, feeling cold, along with a pins and needles sensation that¢s similar to what you might feel if you tried to walk after your leg fell asleep from the circulation being cut off. When it gets really annoying I take some Advil and remind myself that it¢s not as bad as it was last year. I realized last year while hiking that I was doing three things that were making the pain WORSE.1) Most of my thoughts were about how much my leg was hurting, or ¢Why did this ever happen to me¢ type of pity party thoughts.2) While I was in pain I was holding my breath or taking in just little gasps of air. 3) I was tensing up nearby muscles which was causing my upper calf and hip muscles to be mucho hurting at the end of the day on top of my foot and ankle. I tried a number of things to help with this. One of the simplest was to mentally say ¢Breathe¢¦ Relax¢¦¢ as I hiked along. This past week I took this a step further by creating some positive, uplifting thoughts to listen to as I hike. I recorded these on my iPhone in a slow, gentle, assuring voice so that I can play this back while I¢m hiking. This may sound crazy - but it actually works!Here¢s the script I recorded:As you're walking alonglistening to all the sounds around youand the sounds of my voice.. taking in a deep breath .. now.. letting out any stress or busy thoughtsbreathing in again,.. now.. drawing in pure - fresh - oxygenand breathing out¢¦ letting go of anything that's been bothering you...taking in another slow, deep, breath¢¦relaxing¢¦letting go¢¦allowing complete and total relaxation to flow down over the back of your headacross your shouldersdown through your bodyletting go.. letting go.. taking in another healing breath now.. and letting go, exhaling out any tension or concernsAs you're walking along..your entire body is letting gomoving along the trailcompletely loose and relaxedright - now - you're taking in all the beauty around youthis day, this hour, this minute, in the wild, on the trailas a special - celebration - of this very moment in your lifeYour entire body is healing...completely and effortlessly¢¦building strength with each and every stepIt's wonderful to be living this lifehiking the Appalachian trailwhile enjoying any pleasant, enjoyable thoughtsthat may be coming to you ... now.. As you move along you¢re finding thatYour energy level is building each and everyday..Getting stronger and stronger as you hike along the trail..Your legs seem to be getting stronger..healthier¢¦more stable.. easily and effortlessly moving you up hillsand down the rocky trail The sensations you previously felt from your healing leg arenow fading away.. into the background...and you find yourself noticing all the otherthings around you¢¦ the sounds of the woodsthe beautiful viewthe different trees and branches in different positionsthe sounds of birds and animalsmaybe even some water as it flows by in a small trickle orin a streamYou¢re now living a vibrant, healthy lifeenjoying the healing in all parts of your bodyas you¢re becoming more and more comfortablerelaxed, and content¢¦ right now.. You¢ll find that these thoughts will carry thruthe rest of your day and night..Leaving you content, relaxed, and enjoying every moment of this very special day. ============== End of Healing Script ===============I¢ve been listening to this almost everyday.If you haven¢t used something like this before then your reaction might be to dismiss this or think it¢s kinda wacky. All I can tell you is that this works. I¢ve used this same method to deal with other challenges in my life with good results each time. My opinion is that by relaxing, your mind becomes less occupied and more open to suggestion. Then the positive encouraging thoughts you listen to are able to replace or push out many of the crappy thoughts we tend to listen to in our heads. In fact, as I¢m writing this to you I noticed that over the past few days I¢ve been feeling more content and been ¢enjoying the moment¢ so much more than I used to. Maybe it¢s because I¢ve been listening to this audio script.I may create and provide audio scripts like this to help other people deal with challenges in their lives as one of my business ventures once I¢m done hiking the AT. Because of this, if you¢d like to have your own audio script to listen to, send me one or two paragraphs via my guestbook here. Please list out what you want to change in your life (what you want to stop or get rid of) along with the positive results you¢d like to see someday. When I have a zero day I¢ll write and record your audio script and then send you the audio file so that you can test this out for yourself. There¢s no charge but I¢m only able to do this for 5 or 10 people max. All I ask is that you try out listening to whatever I create and send me a short testimonial letting me know if it has helped you. OK - This is a different journal post today but hopefully one that you enjoyed reading. Thanks so much for all of your encouragement. I promise to read and respond to every guestbook comment you send to me (it may take a few days if I¢m out hiking