Adventure Hot Spot

Last night, I was lost in a dream consisting of me, manning a elongated kayak, barreling down a Thailand marsh-y stream thing at about 70 miles an hour, stressed to the max, and unsure of my direction. I jolted awake - I jolt in my sleep...frequently...for the record - and after my stress level simmered, I realized that I have been having a lot of boat dreams where I'm sailing or kayaking or on some sort of floatation device on turbulent waters. Now, to get all Freudian on this dream world adventure, I guess I'm thinking a lot about some stressful changes in my life and the uncertainty of my direction - hence boats on turbulent water charging forward into the unknown.

I've realized that it was about a year ago that I started blogging and I did so in order to document some of the changes I was going through as a teacher in Thailand and a student in all other aspects of my own life. Since living in Thailand, I moved across the globe to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where my family lives in an attempt to reunite cut ties and reestablish face time. Now, I am waiting for my visa to be processed, trying to get organized, and doing all that I can to prepare myself in mind and heart for the next adventure that I will embark on - to Daejeon, Korea.
 
Just as I am still adventuring into unfamiliar territory, two of my friends also recently set out on an adventure of their own - cars packed up, contracts severed, and hearts set on northern Colorado. Without much experience in this area, just romantic ideas and restless spirit, they cruised through the Rockies in search of a new place to climb, find some work, and call home. After Orgeon-trailing it across the west, they found that their destination wouldn't be in the Mile High city, the yuppie mountain towns, or even the plains where hippies and ranchers congregate around microbreweries and the "great outdoors". To my surprise, they ended up parting ways and pursuing different dreams in alternate directions, both deviating from their "Hollerado" (a term coined by my friend, Tommy Strehlow) adventure.

But the really cool part of meeting up with my good friend again in downtown Santa Fe, was that his spirits were high - bent on seizing opportunity and the uncertainty of this world. I got psyched. Then, when talking to the other half of the Colorado expedition crew, I said that it sounded like they were both in an "adventure hot spot" emotionally - that they were embracing change, instead of stressing the lack of plans and "sure thing" type of organizing that most of us are all bent on. Moreover, they were going after this uncertain world on their own - and that is definitely a feat in and of itself.
 
There's just something to be said about going somewhere just to see what happens, opening oneself up to change, and relishing in impulse-based decision making. So often we remain in places where we aren't satisfied or stimulated, we are working a job that doesn't fulfill us, or we are just unhappy, but we hang on simply because of the nebulous world that looms beyond our comfort box. I believe that owe it to ourselves to karate kick our way out of this zone of complacency, take command of the raft, and Cast Away from the shore - especially if we have gotten comfortable with talking to deflated volleyballs. (Could be a metaphor for the dead beat energy vampires we surround ourselves with....hey, we build our boxes...just saying...)

One of my favorite quotations comes from Mark Twain. He said -

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”