It’s been five days since I returned from my “trip of a lifetime” to New Zealand. While there will be more to come on the trip itself here on the blog, this post concerns the outcomes of the trip itself.

Before leaving, I would quip that this trip needed to do a lot of heavy lifting. This year has been, in word—rough. I’d been feeling down and stuck in a rut. Fortunately, the trip gave me what I needed. I’ve returned feeling a bit lighter and more hopeful. I want to keep challenging myself and plan more things to look forward to. I already have my sights set on the next trip.

Perhaps most important of all, I want to write again. I’ve felt stopped up ever since the pandemic sent us all into quarantine. For the last five years I’ve gotten nowhere with a novel idea I’ve been kicking around. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to write, novel-wise, but maybe the act of creating here will get me working on my contemporary romance writing again. Or maybe I’ll pick up a new genre entirely. The sky is the limit, really.

The thread tying all of this together (the trip and the challenge and the drive to create) is hiking. I didn’t truly understand what hiking really was until I tackled the terrain of the South Island of New Zealand. In retrospect, I feel dumb for being so naive. I thought I’d hiked before, but now I see it was really just walking. It’s all the more exciting, then, that I was able to complete the hikes that I did on my trip.

And now, I want more.

So here I go, adopting a new hobby that I can base my whole personality around. It makes me think of this Instagram reel on millennials and their midlife crisis hobbies:

I’m declaring hiking to be my millennial midlife crisis hobby. The running hobby hit me hard for my quarter life crisis and still lingers in my life, but overall is on the decline. I’ll always love photography but will likely stick with my iPhone as lugging DSLR equipment around is a pain in a**. I might consider getting a Go Pro, however. Travel will be a byproduct of hiking. I already own two cats. I do enjoy cocktails, but not in a hardcore sort of way. And I will never get into triathlons. I hate cycling too much.

All this to say, “Welcome to my newbie hiking lifestyle blog!” Even if this type of blog isn’t relevant anymore, I’m going to post here anyway, because this isn’t hurting anyone and is a net benefit to me. It’s getting my creative juices flowing again. It’s also a pleasure to write here without the pressure to use AI for efficiency’s sake. I’m leaving AI for the corporate world and getting reacquainted with my own brain as I wade back into the creative world.

Anyway, much more to come. For now, it’s time for me to figure out how I can get access to hiking trails beyond a city park when I don’t own a car. Off to search for Chicago hiking groups!