According to the Oxford Dictionary, a reward is: “a thing given in recognition of one's service, effort, or achievement”. The key word in this definition is “thing”, as in an object such as a trophy or candy. When I was younger, I believed that this definition is the exact meaning of a reward; for example, in a soccer tournament, you might get a reward for winning and nothing for losing. When my team lost these tournaments, which was often, I felt disappointed like everything that went into that season was for nothing. The reward was handed out to other teams and I never understood the term intrinsic reward.

This past summer I did a lot of hiking. During one particular hike in the Presidential Range, My friends and I were scaling ladders up the steep sides of Mount Jefferson. We started early in the morning, at around 4 A.M. so we would be able to see the sun climb above the ridges of Madison which was enough to make the entire hike to that point worth it. This memory I still treasure. The trail itself felt rewarding after climbing it. The height of two Empire State Buildings in 2.3 miles. This ascent was one of my first realizations about intrinsic rewards. From the summit of Jefferson, the rest of the hike was just ridge walking in the sun and by noon we reached the top of Washington, the highest point in New England. The view was amazing. The climb and ridge walk paid off. Twenty minutes later, gray clouds rolled in. Washington was covered in thick fog. It got denser and denser until you couldn’t see thirty feet in front of you. To the hundreds of people who took the cog or the auto road to the summit, the rain might just be a little frustrating due to the low visibility but for us, it was torture. Trying to traverse the scree fields was a nightmare. When I look back on this hike, the terrible weather only made the hike more memorable. Sometimes just being surrounded by people going through the same experience, the solidarity makes you feel better. This can be applied to almost anything: losing in a tournament or missing that one party you’ve been looking forward to. But hiking with friends last summer felt like a reward. Each subsequent hike last summer brought me the same feeling, and I made similar memories. 

Something that I have come to realize is that a treasured experience or memory is a reward in itself. It may not feel like a reward at the time, but it will come back later. Sometimes it's weeks or months later. As I already mentioned, the hike down from the summit was a nightmare but that was when I was in the moment. If the weather was not so bad. I think The Alpine Garden trail might have been one of the best trails on the range. I do recommend hiking this if that's your thing. After my group got back to our base camp at Jefferson, it was wet. Super wet. Water was everywhere. In the depression of the rocks, in the tents, in our packs. But it was fun. Physically, the only “things” I got were wet clothes. But the intrinsic rewards I received, in my opinion, are the most important “things” because sometimes you won’t get what you want. No trophies, no participation medals; just the experiences and memories of it.