Reasons Why Long-distance Hiking Will Change you Forever

Year after year, more and more people set off on long-distance hikes lasting several days – with the plain purpose of finding “themselves”. Because of the massive “pilgrim boom” at the Way of St. James, the subject of lengthy-distance trekking has to grow to be socially acceptable – even famous.

But as is so often the case today – when there is money to be made with something – this interest in long-distance hiking gives rise to many peculiarities, which lead to the true spirit of such long-distance hiking “ad absurdum”.

Tour operators “coach” the tired long-distance hikers to chic hotels in the evening and popular hiking guides skillfully steer them through every town along the way – so that the modern multi-day hiker never misses an opportunity to stop.

In this manner, even lengthy-distance trekking, that’s puristic, turns into an absolute “lifestyle event”.

But the “true spirit” of a lengthy-distance hike – the secret, the energy in the back of it which could change you and your existence forever – moves a long way away in this manner and stays close to you.

What makes long-distance hiking so special?

If you’re searching out the actual magic of a long-distance hike, then you need to get out there! Get out into nature. Far away from social conveniences – away from concrete pathways and brightly colored signage.

To where your life is reduced to the few things that really matter. On long-distance hiking trails – far from civilisation. To places that are still left exclusively to nature.

Because only there can you discover the real attraction that makes long-distance hiking so extraordinary. And that will change your existence forever.

Long-distance hiking promotes your independence

On long-distance hiking trails, you are on your own – you only carry with you what fits in your backpack. In many areas, there is not even “cell phone reception”. No human soul far and wide.

So you are often completely on your own when hiking long distances. You must solve each problem, each venture all through yourself. It doesn`t count whether or not it’s creating a fire, making food, or setting up your tent – you have to take care of everything on your own, so you’ll quickly become a little “all-rounder”.

If you grasp these kinds of long-distance trekking demanding situations all through yourself, you may speedy benefit a whole lot and carry this over to the rest of your existence. Once you have realized that you can face the demands and laws of nature – then you know deep down that you can also do many other things in life – without any outside help.

Long-term hikes promote minimalism and inner well-being

When hiking more than 12 miles daily, it is inevitably necessary to pack as lightly as possible. If you have too many grams in your backpack, it will slow down and make every step very heavy. In this way, you will soon learn to limit yourself, limiting yourself to what is important for long-distance hikes.

At first, you’ll still immediately miss the belongings you left behind, and leaving them will severely limit you when hiking long distances. But faster than you can probably imagine, you will find out during your long-distance hike that we humans tend to “lug around” ballast with us – to accumulate things that we don’t actually need for our lives and our happiness.

You will learn to distinguish between what you need to be happy and what things are just unnecessary. You will notice that real luxury has nothing to do with money or any consumer goods. Real luxury is the time you take for yourself and the things that make you happy from the inside out.

Once you have learned from long-distance hiking not to take everything in life for granted and have practiced without doing things that we in our society consider completely “normal” such as a hot shower, electricity, or a comfortable bed then you will quickly notice, what counts in life and you will be able to enjoy the “small” things in life again through your long-distance hiking experiences.

Long-distance hiking is a fight against your inner self

In today’s society, we are no longer used to going to our physical and psychological limits. We are usually lazy, let ourselves be served frequently, or like to shift unpleasant tasks onto others. But with long-distance hiking, you are alone, alone with yourself and your “demons”.

Ahead of you are distances that many people today can not even imagine that it is possible to cover them exclusively on foot. You will climb steep mountains and inclines where there is neither a cable car nor a road that leads up the path in moderate turns. As you cross rugged terrain, you often wonder if you’re on the right track.

All of these adversities that a true long-distance hike encounters face-to-face with your “inner weak soul” and the “man in your ears” asking you: “Why are you doing this to yourself?” Are you still healthy? “

Sometimes you will fight – fight for every step, for every meter, for every mountain that needs to be conquered. You fight against yourself, your comfort and the inner urge to just throw everything away.

When you can conquer your mind, control yourself, to push your body to its limits then you realize that in life you can take on all opponents and adversities. Nothing can stop you nobody will stop you if you don`t want to.

You will internalize that you can do anything in life. Understand that you will always find a way to make the things that are important to you in life a reality.

You can experience real nature on long-distance hikes

In our present, we humans have completely lost touch with nature. For most of us, nature is a “small city park” just around the corner, a suburban manager replanting a forest, or a wide asphalt path through the mountainous areas where ski resorts intersect.

But in reality, none of these places have anything to do with untamed nature. Humans dominate in all these areas. So we limited, tamed, destroyed, and robbed nature of its true charm.

However, long-distance hikers can reach areas where nature still has at least its fundamental power and its true beauty. More than tens of kilometers away from the nearest roads, villages, and civilizations.

On long-distance hikes, you quickly realize that such hillside locations are unique. And when people don’t “intervene”, here’s how perfectly harmonious everything is, what magnificent nature is. You can see what it looks like.

In nature you will also recognize that death and decay have nothing negative in them. But they are just a part of the perfect cycle. Everything is part of the great cycle of decay giving birth to new life. Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted.

You will also experience that animals do not always escape from humans during actual long-distance hikes in exposed areas. We can see that all living things have a kind of respect and natural interest in each other.

Hiking will change your life

All these long-distance hiking experiences will make you another, more self-reliant and confident person. If you allow it, your view of many things in life will change radically.

Perhaps all of this sounds a bit “spiritual” to you, and you can’t imagine that a mere hike can have such an impact on you and your personality.