29. Hiking

We've had a warm spell recently, so with cloudless skies above us, my dad and I decided to go on a hike. The mountain we chose (if you can even call it that) is less than an hour from our house, and the hike itself is only eight miles round-trip -- the perfect amount for gorgeous views at the top and a sense of accomplishment once you've made it down, but not so strenuous that you're exhausted for the rest of the day.
At the start of a hike, I always find that my mind is jumbled with school assignments and YouTube videos and job obligations. But after about twenty minutes of walking, my head starts to clear, and I become more aware of what's around me. If you take the hike a step at a time, you can't help but be present in the moment. You can do nothing more than focus on what's right in front of you. By the time I get to the top, my legs are burning, but my mind is free of any distraction.
Being on top of a mountain really helps to put things in perspective. Humans are nothing more than dots in the city below, and roads and rivers spread their fingers out over the landscape, snaking through the valleys. All the petty problems seem to float away, and barely even matter anymore.
So little of these hikes are about whether I get to the top; instead, they are about escaping from everyday life, and finally being free.

27. Goals

I haven't even been out of school for a week, and it's already going by too fast. But, in reality I've got the whole summer left to accomplish whatever I want to. It's pretty liberating, really -- two months of unadulterated freedom, with no homework and very few rules and altogether way too much free time. So, if I want to have a hope of actually accomplishing something this summer, I'm gonna have to start setting goals.

Each summer as part of the summer skating program, we are asked to set goals concerning what we want to accomplish over the next few months. They can be pretty much anything, from landing a jump, to learning a new spin, to improving body awareness and musicality. They could even be something as simple as, "pay attention better in class". We meet once every few weeks to discuss how much progress we've made so far, et cetera, et cetera, and it's all very encouraging, and helpful, and perfectly boring.

But the first few weeks of summer are less organized. There's no pompous coach telling you exactly what type of goals you need to set, or asking you in that condescending voice to read them aloud to the group. No, in the first fortnight of summer, the whole world is open, and you can accomplish whatever you put your mind to.

It's just up to you to do it....