[pct-l] music while hiking
Marion Davison
mardav at charter.net
Sun Jul 24 23:35:09 CDT 2011
I am a singer/musician, so I always have an ear worm going. (A song
stuck in my head, that changes unconsciously through word association or
some other memory stimulus). (At this moment it is "Fletch") On the
trail the ear worm can get really loud and pervasive because of the
repetitive nature of hiking. So I deliberately manage the ear worm, for
example, trying to sing through an entire album from memory. When I am
fearful (scary exposure on a trail or an oncoming storm) I sing praise
songs out loud, really loud, to bolster my faith and confidence.
I have never taken a music device on the trail, because I would be
saying "huh?" to my significant other every time he tried to talk to me,
and it would get really annoying for him. I know enough songs from
memory to manage to entertain myself.
I also enjoy writing new lyrics to songs to fit the day on the trail,
and work on refining these lyrics for days.
My typical summer trek lasts a month. I don't know how I would handle
the withdrawals of being without an instrument to play or music to hear
for the length of a thru hike.
Marion
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