Sources of Inspiration

I resisted Twitter as long as I could. Then all of my co-workers and I signed up so we could try to push traffic to the websites of our magazines -- Electronic House, CE Pro and Commercial Integrator (check 'em out, especially if you're into cool electronics!). I was very skeptical of what I thought was a fad and simple means of the Kardashians of the world to get even more attention.

After a few weeks of getting the hang of it, I was hooked. That's because if you use Twitter the right way (OK, well there's no right way ... but what's right for us) it's an extremely useful conduit for discovery. In my case, my feed is catered to reading opinions and articles about the things I enjoy most -- sports, music, trivia and hiking/travel. Plus work-related stuff, which sometimes overlaps with the music.

It's the hiking and travel aspect of Twitter that has really made my mind dizzy lately with daydreams and planning ... and just plain inspiration. I follow people who visit places and accomplish things in the travel and outdoorsy world that I can't possibly imagine doing, but I'm nonetheless envious. What it really makes me think about is how mine and Sara's outdoors initiative for ourselves and our daughter can be our little part of exploring this inspirational and aspirational pastime -- hopefully for many years to come.

Every day I'm finding new people and reading things via Twitter to fuel this growing fire. Here are a few to really get you going: @AndrewSkurka, the ultimate solo adventurer who recently completed a first-of-its-kind Alaska-Yukon journey that covered thousands of miles; @WheresAndrew, National Geographic's "Digital Nomad" Andrew Evans, who does a phenomenal job documenting his globe-spanning assignments (he's currently on a "Cape to Cape" trek between South America and Africa; @NomadicMatt and @EverywhereTrip, who, respectively, have been traveling around the world as a lifestyle for the last half decade; and @HikingTheTrail, Adam Nutting, who is preparing for an Appalachian thru-hike next year.

Of course the beauty of Twitter is in daily discovery, and just today I found someone whose blog completely inspires me to work harder on this one -- hers is Tales of a Mountain Mama (the last word crossed out to make Mountain Family on the page). Her real name is Amelia Mayer, (@mtnmamatales) and she and her family appear to share very similar ideals and goals as Sara and I. And the cool thing about Twitter is that sometimes when you follow someone, they follow you back, so I look forward to sharing tales from the woods (or songs from the wood, as Jethro Tull might say) with her and others as we continue on this wonderful path. (Arlen)