Wanted: Lost motivation

// Warning: This post contains pointless whining and is written while being frustrated. Reading at own risk. 😉 //

Once again it has been quiet here for some time. This is partly because of the Wilderness Guide school keeping me busy: I just spent a week hiking in Muotkatunturit wilderness area in Lapland with the class. But partially the silence is because of the lack of motivation.

Rock Ptarmigans in Muotkatunturit wilderness area.

It seems that I need something big to keep me motivated and excited. I need to have something big on the drawing board that challenges me: How should it be done? Can I put it all together? Can I pull it through? That’s the part that really makes me tingle. And when I’m motivated and excited I also want to share it with other people (That would be you, dear readers) but when there is nothing special going on or coming up and everything goes as planned, I feel that there is not much to write about.

I need more of this stuff! (Picture from Spitsbergen in April 2011.)

Though, of course there would be things to write about!

I just spent a week hiking in really nice and wild area in Lapland but for some reason it doesn’t feel special enough to inspire me to write a trip report. I’ve done quite a lot of one-week hikes in Lapland. There would be also few posts and trip reports still waiting to be finished but that’s not too exciting either. There is the Wilderness Guide school going on but it feels now as business-as-usual for me and thus isn’t too inspiring. And things like going for a walk near home, enjoying the sun and picking a bucket of cranberries from a surprising place doesn’t feel like worth a blog post either… I could also write gear reviews as there is big punch of gear I’ve been using for a long time and have been very satisfied. And some gear that I haven’t used because of the gear either failing or not working as I would have wished. But I have sort of an issue with gear reviews as I feel that they encourage unnecessary consumption… but maybe I should?

Picking wild berries, mushrooms, etc. is a typical weekend activity for me. Nice way to enjoy the nature nearby.

The lack of motivation might also be because of some resent setbacks related to the inspiring stuff I wished to do. I wrote earlier about some speed hiking plans and if things would have gone the way I planned, I would have just finished a 135km trail in three days. But, I unfortunately my mates had to cancel the trip and I’m not too much into solo trips so this is postponed to next spring. The second big thing I had planned was actually lot bigger. In school we have a voluntary internship period in December but instead of working in some company I was planning to do a big skiing trip: Four weeks of skiing in Lapland without seeing the sun! But unfortunately I didn’t find anyone to accompany me on that trip so it is also postponed to distant future…

If things would have gone as planned, this would have been as much Sun as I would have seen during December. (Picture from lake Inari in January 2011.)

Luckily there is also some inspiring stuff coming up… Within two weeks we will have the school’s 24 hour challenge and if everything goes well, I’ll then cover the longest distance I’ve ever covered under my own power within 24 hours. And because of the big, cold and dark skiing trip being cancelled I decided to do some internship stuff instead and I think I will be learning a lot of new things while at it.

This fellows might teach me a thing or two…

There is also some sort of a ski expedition on the drawing board but I’ll have to see how it goes. If I find the company, have the money and can arrange the time, I will definitely let you know!

Blueberry leaves in Muotkatunturit wilderness area last week.

But, the main idea of this post was not only to whine about the lack of motivation but to help me find the lost motivation. So. I wish you would write a comment on this post and tell:

A) How do you keep yourself motivated? (I know there is bunch of great and talented bloggers occasionally visiting here, so this is especially for you!)

B) What kind of content would you like to see on this blog? Trip reports? Gear reviews? More pointless whining?