I am your average guy that likes to get out there a little bit. I am hoping for a lot more out of life. Maybe I am like you, a slave to a job, a droid to hyper-robotic management; burdened by piles of bills, bills, and more bills; busy with a day to day that never seems to end and they all blur into one another. My only recourse is to get up and do something, make the most of the hidden opportunities slithering away in the race from sunrise to the sunset. I have even found it in me to sneak some activity or adventure into the still of night (no, not the kind that involves alcohol, parties, and your standard “night life”) As long as I’m awake, there is some adventure to be found.
What adventures do I speak of? Here’s Merriam Webster’s #1 definition: 1 a : an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks b : the encountering of risks <the spirit of adventure>
Well, it seems like something hard to do, with a life and all. It is okay to want to be safe. For many that is all that is needed. There is nothing wrong with that. I’ve been a rock climber off and on (more off, but I’ll tell you how I got really fat and played it safe in a later post) for over 20 years now. I’ve been riding bicycles, swimming, and hiking since childhood. Sports was a part of being a kid in my neighborhood. I’m not saying I was a hyper extreme athlete back then (I am still not.) I am grateful for the opportunities I had to go outside and play. Yet, what is important for us to acknowledge, is that at some point early on we all developed the skill to simply walk. Our first adventure. Our parents saw the risk and we just took it. We didn’t have to think or push ourselves, worry about risk or fear, schedule a vacation with day off requests to management. It just happened at some point. Please dare me to get out there, I look in the mirror and know it is worth the risk. Dare to take those baby steps to something greater in this world. Surprise yourself. Adventure, risk and challenge. Before one can become, one must overcome. Constraints are just as part of adventure as the action of going, doing and the satisfaction of returning safely. I will turn in as many day off requests as needed.
Overcome that initial challenge of time. Yes, time by in which we are limited. We are held down by hours, minutes, even seconds, more so than even gravity. I do know that with a little effort, those hours, minutes, and seconds, can easily become moments, spectacles. We just have to allow them to happen. I have learned in these recent years that there is more to life than what you limit yourself to. More to your age, more to your sense of self worth, job, car, house, and more to that very important substance that keeps going, TIME. You have to be a thief of sorts, a Robin Hood taking time back from all that you delude yourself into believing is cheating you. Whether it’s your job, your family obligations, responsibilities, yourself. Make that time. Handle your business accordingly, leave that portion of your conscience at home. Feel free to take your loved ones with you, you don’t have to leave them at home. Getting out and doing what you love is a great responsibility in itself, for yourself. Indulge in the challenge of feeling free.
There is a balance that has to be had, and you have to desire it. I know that after a few days hiking up a mountain, or bouldering a desert landscape, I have to return to the modern scheme of things. I have to go back to the reality of work, bills, family, and home. To go back to those things I have to really appreciate what is waiting, just as I would planning an outdoor getaway. In the same sense, I cherish those days out, no matter how mundane and schematic my days in may be. No one can take away what I accomplish and see in this adventure we call life. Beyond the concrete and technology there are night skies full of stars and horizons of Mother Nature’s bounty. I go out with eyes wide open, lungs gasping for that fresh air, and most especially significant, a smile in my very being. Time doesn’t stop, only foolish individuals cozen themselves into thinking anything is too late. On that note, I shall send us all off with this little notion that is my life’s recent undertaking: you have to take time, to make time, to have the time of your life. Believe me, it is all there for the taking.
—Rodolfo R. Sales Jr.
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