>>2636596>Why couldn’t I have been interested in it when I was 20 and doing nothingYour subconscious wants to dream about it, but only if there is no chance of actually having to do it. Once there is a chance of having to go through with it, the desire vanishes.
It's like that feeling of being super motivated to be productive and change your life that sometimes appears late in the night when you are just about to go to sleep and know it's too late to get started now, but you totally could tomorrow(tm).
Come morning and the motivation vanishes, because now there's no convenient excuse anymore and you'd have to actually do the thing.
Your brain naturally wants the dopamine of imagining the achievement without all the work attached. With hiking the pattern is even stronger because it's type 2 fun, meaning there's often some form of discomfort or challenge involved in the moment.
I'm not saying that you or your brain are uniquely lazy or dumb by the way, it's a normal behavior, I have it too. But this basic pattern, combined with a longing for a change of pace from your daily life might explain the desire existing now rather than in your 20s.
