And the beginning of the monthly hikes.

Welcome readers!

Last entry, I shared some insight about embarking on micro-adventures and how to get started in them. For me, this entails performing a monthly hike across different places along my travels.

To recount my first monthly hike, we must travel back to January, 2026, up in the South Downs National Park, East Sussex.

The book flips to a blank page. Footprints imprint the page with ink and mud.

South Downs National Park - 20/1/26

Our arrival into Hassocks signalled a promising but grey day, after experiencing a few days of rainy conditions. Myself and my parents set off within the early morning to commence a 15.98km hike along the South Downs National Park, situated within East Sussex.

Although the rain held off, the wind didn’t let up as we scaled the rolling hills. As I stopped momentarily and absorbed the lush greenery of the countryside, I found it to be quite the sight.

Sometime along our hike, we went off course from our hiking route and had to double back by bypassing through a sheep farm. By this time, running two navigational apps on a nearly 7 year old phone in the low 10 degrees C wiped the battery clean, leaving us three to continue the rest of the way without a route. Through slushy, wet mud and some determination, the main road was in sight, where we settled for a nourishing quiche and warm beverage in town before returning to our starting point.

Exploring the South Downs was a great opportunity to experience more of the English backdrop, even if that entailed navigating without navigation through the mud. It was after a few hours of hiking and trekking did the finally reveal itself on the train journey back. Better late than never I suppose…

Thus the first hike was complete! I also wanted to share a mini-lesson I learned during that time-frame.

Make Change Slowly but with Focus

This was a point in time where many parts were on the move and for me, I needed to exercise taking action in changing myself so I was ready for the road ahead. Change is often a difficult process. Naturally, we as humans find change to be uncomfortable - a change in temperature for our ancestors was a life or death outcome.

Often, change comes to us but there are times where we personally enact change. When we strive to change, we think big! However, applying this to every facet of your life isn’t always the solution.

You don’t just wish to have a strong body and wake up with a body like Superman, nor do you become a master violinist by playing a couple songs off by heart. Making the change happens in increments - you not only need the will to make the change, but you also need to follow the change through with precision focus over a long-period of time.

When you look back after following through these changes, you’ll see how much you’ve accomplished through compounding changes incrementally.

What changes are you putting into your lives slowly? Is it a new habit, mindset or exercise?

📺 Recent Movie/TV Watch: Re-watched Forrest Gump

🌱 Lesson of the Week: Avoid filling your day with too many big tasks.

📖 Learning Experience of the Week: A single adult mussel can filter the equivalent of three bathtubs of water in a single day! 💪

🏆 Highlight of the Week: Completing the script for the next short animation (can’t say much about it now, but hopefully I can get to work on it asap!)

🪄 Inspiration of the Week: Watching the first Behind the Scenes Episode for the upcoming Ancient Debris Pilot Animation

Thankyou for reading! I hope to see you in the next Tale 🧙🏻

Critters