444 - Accountability
Buenas!
Welcome back to another edition of 444. My name's Max. I'm a travelling photographer from Australia. 444 is my monthly blog honouring when you act with your heart. Each month expect something 4 me, 4 you, and 4 us.
Have this will land into your email at 4:44 from wherever I am in the world by signing up here.
Today I'm coming to you from Sahuayaco on the Inca Trail in Peru. I can hear the streams of the Rio Santa Teresa from my tent. It's offering some level of soothing to the incessant urges to scratch my sandfly bites.
4 me - Accountability
I'm currently on my first ever multi-day solo hike. It's ten days walking between the Inca ruins Choquequirao and Machu Picchu. This wasn't in my periphery a month ago. Before this, I'd only done a few group hikes, including camps from school.
I normally hope for others to make plans and jump on their trip. This waiting stops me from freely going deep into the outdoors.
I explored the blockages. It revealed my poor organisation skills and self-doubt stood in the way.
A recent Huayhuash hike organised by my friend showed me how to prepare for a trip like this. There were so many learnings from his meticulous planning.
I usually let time fizzle aspirations like this out. I set myself a deadline to put my learnings into practice before leaving Latin America.
Now, it's happening. I'm solo hiking! In nature with everything on my back. It's imperfect and scary at times. I've made several mistakes.
It has been a steep learning curve to understanding this new skill and my intuition. I've given myself grace. Celebrating this new confidence to explore nature differently.
Find more learnings from the hike here.
4 you - Prompts
What's something you're hesitating to try?
What's standing in your way?
Who can you lean on for support?
Shoutout to the people that help you access new layers of yourself.
Thank you Tristan.
4 us - 44more on substack
The accountability continues. Another thing I need to work on is my distribution. I'm recognising other channels to create and share my thoughts.
Introducing my new substack - @stacksofmax
Expect the release rate to increase with 444s and more to drop there.
That's August's 444 wrapped-up.
Thank you for being you and giving time to this creative pursuit of mine. If you know someone that might like it, I'd appreciate you forwarding this onto a friend. They can subscribe here.
Before you go, check out my Guna Yala Postcards shipping this month. All profits support the Caledonia traditional dance school in the San Blas Islands.
Ciao,
Max
