Day 29 - Life Lessons

When you hike, do you look down to carefully calculate your step, or do you look up and ponder the magic of the trees, rocks, and clouds?  I found myself in Yosemite looking down a lot, and then catching myself.  Maybe it's ok to take a misstep.  Maybe it's ok to use your body to catch yourself.  Maybe you are missing some amazing cloud formatting or beautiful mountain peak as you look down.  I have to give a shout out to Carolyn here.  She is the "clumsiest fit person I know."  I was thinking of Carolyn on this hike.  She is always looking up - hence the "clumsy," but she always catches herself and doesn't miss a beat. She keeps on stepping.  I think this translates to her life too.  She is always dreaming.  I remember sitting down with her and writing my first bucket list.  She doesn't bother with the calculating each step like my engineer mind.  She reminds me to look up, see where you want to go, dream bigger than when you started, and then roll with the missteps on your way there. 

 

I think that is what this trip has taught me.  Look up and dream.  If you are looking down, trying to make sure you don't make any mistakes, you miss a lot of the glory of life.  If we were following the rules at work, we never would have thought to take this trip. 

 

And this trip has reminded me of several things I already knew, but needed to be slapped in the face with.

1. Don't follow the crowds.  You will be happy, it will be beautiful, and you will meet nice people.  But.. go do something epic, and you will still get all of those things on your way back down.  Like our sunrise teahouse hike in Banff, or our backpacking trip to Half Dome.  Everyone does the first mile, and there is something beautiful about that first mile, yet it is accessible to everyone.  Go to the 8th mile, and you will see something astounding, and then chat with the people on the first mile on your way back.  You get one body in this life, so use it. 
2. Dream bigger.  I read Tim Ferriss' book, the 4 hour work week, and he asked what do you want to do in your life and how much would it cost?  We often use the money thing to stop our passions.  I am learning that there are people living in beautiful places, following their passions for dollars a day.  If you don't know what you want or what you are passionate about, stop every routine you have, get out of your comfort zone, and figure it out.  I found that my passions are friends (yes I need to talk to more people than Narendra and Kolton), biking in beautiful places, yoga to calm my mind and stretch my body, and adventure.  Now, I am trying to figure out how I can exploit these things in my life to be able to do them more and better.
3. If you don't ask, the answer will always be no.  There were a lot of doubt, many of them from myself, and even more from my coworkers and other people around me about this trip.  Is work letting you do this?  Well, they didn't promote it, but they didn't say no.  I am probably pushing the boundaries more than most employers prefer, but adventures like these keep me coming back to work with renewed passion.  And I am actually quite productive when there is no one to talk to during the work day.  So, my point is, many people said - but what about....  What is something you want to do?  What are the obstacles in your way?  Have you tried to face them, or do you just assume that someone would say no?