Four years ago today

...I was starting my Appalachian Trail Thruhike. I can't stop thinking about it, and the effect it had on the course of my life. What effect did it have on my relationship with myself? My relationship with my body? My relationships with my friends? My love life? My career? What if I had never even attempted my hike? Would I harbor regrets for having wimped out? Would I have continued to gain weight and treat my body like crap? Would I have had any love life at all over the last four years? Would I have a job? Would I be miserable at that job? Would I be rich but dead from a heart attack? I know it is nonsense to play the "what if" game too much. But let's face it: My thruhike was a big event in my life. It definitely caused ripples in the otherwise stagnant pond that had become my life.