As I approach 1000 geocache finds I’m starting to get a strange feeling come over me. I’ve never been about the numbers. Some of my caching friends have in excess of 4000 finds, one even double that. For me I’ve never enjoyed going out and doing drive by caches just to pad my numbers. I am finding however that I’m focusing on those zeroes a little more than I used to.
I think part if it for me is peer pressure. If you hang around cachers that have thousands of finds you start to feel somehow a little inadequate for not having found thousands of caches. My rational brain tells me not to worry about it but the competitive part of my brain is starting to get engaged.
I’m hoping that once I break 1000 I’ll be able to go back to caching for the fun of it rather than thinking about my numbers. I know there are many cachers that live and die by there statistics. That’s not me … well that wasn’t me. I’ll let you know what happens when I get to 4 digits, it should be sometime near the end of the year.
teamvoyagr
I have been writing the cachemania blog since 2008. I'm interested in the development of geocaching and the many ways that people play the game.
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6 Comments until now
Wow, that is quite impressive! Whether you focus on the numbers or not, 100 finds means a huge collection of memories and fun times! It’s always good to have a goal to keep us motivated, and the number of finds is the easiest quantitative way to measure progress, but it does seem some people obsess about the number more than the experience itself. Anyway, sounds like you’ve got the right mindset. Keep it up!
I’m with you Cachechick in that it’s quality over quantity for the number of finds as a measure of how you are doing.
Try not to let that ol’ peer pressure get to you – that’s the quickest way to take the shine off this great hobby of ours.
I never cared one jot about “the numbers” until I started going to events, and met all these people with thousands of finds under their belts….for the first time ever I felt the need to prove I was serious about the hobby and figured that meant I needed to do some of these big series and increase my find count. But you know what? I really didn’t enjoy those 14 average caches in a circular trail around some farmer’s fields anywhere NEAR as much as I enjoy one amazing cache at the end of a decent hike in a fascinating place.
So I’ve gone back to considering one great cache found in a weekend to be a success, and couldn’t be happier
We’ve been caching nearly 3 years now and are up to the lofty heights of 179 finds. But I can live with that
Enjoy!
Sarah
I agree with you Sarah that attending events can kind of make you feel like you aren’t up to snuff. No one tries to make you feel that way it’s just a reaction to all the talk of number of finds.
god luck!! i’m hoping to hit 500 myself soon
I’m going to hit 800 tomorrow. That will me be doing my part for 101010. There is an event at the end of the month. I wonder if I can get to 899 before then?
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