Adventure. Fear. Life. Death
"A lifetime is so little a time that we die before we get ready to live." (John Muir)
Adventure
Do epic shit! (Token Queen of Pottery)
There is no certainty. There is only Adventure.
Adventures are when plans fall apart, when things go wrong, when you have to react, be creative, feeling vulnerable, be spontaneous, when things are uncertain, and when you have hopefully a good story to tell afterwards. Adventures are the little time of unknown, but what do I say. Life is one big adventure itself.
But I can't tell you about adventures, you wouldn't understand them anyway. To understand an adventure completely, you have to live them, be there, share an experience. Telling about adventures is just a small glimpse of the experience. It isn't fair to the adventure.
“What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what I see now?” (Into the wild).
Adventures can be, no they are everywhere!
We can't live any adventure a second time, neither a lot of other things in life. Every moment in real life is singular. Yes, we can watch a film a second time, but it's pointless and not as exciting as the first time. There is only pure magic for the first time. The second time is already a copy. So, if you get invited for an adventure, decide if you wanna join or not, but there will be no second time adventure. Life is too valuable for copies!
Question of our raft guide instructor once:
“Are you ready?”
Answer: “Born ready!”
Adventures are timeless. They can be long or just a second of a moment.
There is no real definition for adventure. Everything can be recreational and easy until it's changed to an adventure. Everyone can have a different perspective of adventure. Driving in crazy city traffic is more stressful and more adventurous for me than being a day long in the forest on the rivers, or climbing in the mountains or at the sea, which might be an adventure for others. It's enjoyable and meditating for me. Not saying that car driving is a fun adventure, more stressful. It's all in our mind and depends on the perspective.
It's the same with being at home, in a grocery store, or doing taxes, it's stressful and I know more people calm down out there doin it (in Nature).
Few places in this world are more dangerous than home (J. Muir)
If you not fail, it wasn't hard enough for you! If you're well prepared, everything is easy until you fail, that's when people judge you for your mistakes and know everything better without having been in the situation.
But failure and mistakes it's where we learn the most and are part of adventure.
Some might have quit/died when it still is easy for others.
"Driving poles for adventures is searching for happiness and finding myself"
(Kilian Jornet - Summit of my Life).
The Purpose of Life is Adventure (Alastair Humphreys:)
(https://www.outsideonline.com/1869091/purpose-life-adventure?fbclid=IwAR1UB9Bj0LaWvtIt9TxwYE7M510rP8LX4iKqiBMkdMYlp0aUQuddypT1Ru0)
What if the thing that stops us living as adventurously as we might dream of is not time or money or family or expertise or gender or training, but our own fears? (https://www.facebook.com/149963098097/videos/10157365850353098/)
*There is a common perception that adventure has to involve leaving the real world behind, heading far out to sea into epic landscapes, with expensive equipment and specialist skills. And that to be an 'Adventurer' you have to be a middle-class white man who is strong and athletic or -- more importantly -- rich and well-connected!
But I honestly believe that adventure is more accessible than that.
So what IS holding us back from living more adventurously?
There is disability and illness, of course, a reminder for those of us who ARE healthy not to take that for granted.
And there are the big, glaring obstacles:
A lack of time is one of the biggest problems of our age. Being too busy for adventure -- for wilderness, tranquility, sunsets -- surely means that we NEED to make time for it, even if it is just a short microadventure escape from the office.
A shortage of money stops many people, through a mistaken assumption that adventure has to be expensive. Some of the best journeys of my life cost less than the smartphone you are reading this on.
Relationships and family commitments and children stand between many of us and the eternal, blissful, selfish dirtbag vagabondage we dream of. Maybe you truly are indispensable, or perhaps your other half simply does not share or even understand your restless spirit. In which case... in which case... Good Luck! You'll need a wiser man than me to solve that conundrum!
But otherwise, I think that what's standing in the way of you and your adventure is not time or money or kids or whatever: what's stopping us living adventurously is fear. Fear.
Often we might not recognise it as that or even deny it or react angrily at the very suggestion. But fear has so many forms.
There are simple fears like vertigo that keep us from climbing, or fear of snakes, or wide open oceans.
There is fear for safety, from the wilderness or from assault -- particularly amongst women. But anxiety about wild places is merely a healthy emotion of respect and should not preclude us from starting small. And fear of assault: is that an issue for quiet evenings alone in the countryside, or one for our daily life surrounded by humans in the 'real world'?
Some of us fear travelling alone or have no adventurous friends to join us. What are we scared of here? The dark? Ghosts? Loneliness? Or do we doubt ourselves? So many of us do, mistakenly worried that our small adventures won't count, or aren't up to much. We fear the inadequacy of comparison. We hide behind excuses like the paradox of choice ("I can't go on an adventure because there are too many options to choose from!"). Or we hide behind defences that class, or upbringing, or education mean that 'people like us' don't do adventure, CAN'T do adventure, that the door to adventure is closed -- as if that was ever possible for walking up a hill, or cycling across a country, or joining a club and making a start?
It's not equipment or training, or wild camping worries, or access to the 'right people' that stops us making a start, it's us lacking the confidence to go for it. We stop ourselves because we're scared. We're scared of the unknown; we are scared to change. And that is why we settle for what we know and where we presently are rather than casting off and taking a chance on changing something.
It can be hard to change. If we are stuck in a rut with work, or depressed, or chasing the mortgage, or changing nappies then change (or even a temporary escape) can feel like an impossibility. I do not deny that, but nor do I believe it is impossible.
And as if all this was not hard enough -- making changes, risking uncertainty -- we also fear what other people will think. What will society or friends or family think if we go and do something weird like camp on a mountain or sling on a backpack or jump into a cold, clear river with our crazy kids? What will people think?!
We fear, above all, the unknown. Not the literal unknown of the wilderness that we all yearn for, but the unknown of how it might all pan out if we do start to live more adventurously.
Adventure is not scary. LIFE is scary. And that's why we stick with what we have. We procrastinate. And we make excuses.
But what scares me, more than any of these very real fears, is that soon it will be too late. One day this will all be over. And I am scared how much I will regret it if I don't do whatever I can to push off from the shore and dare myself to live a little more adventurously while I have the chance.
FEAR/FAILURE/Worries/Uncertainty
The Fear of Nature instead of statistics and society
Fear and comfort zones are made by society and sometimes friends around you. Sometimes even because they love you and want to protect you. But to find happiness, and love into yourself and nature you sometimes just have to be egoistic, courageous and brave and try things. Because that’s where we all as a society, friends and ourselves are learning from. From exploring, trying and doing. “Grey is all the theorie!”
We went for an adventure. Ok, actually just a hike with a bunch of friends on the west coast for a weekend in the sunshine, with tents, enough food, backpacks, a lot of gear and everything we need, a marked trail and even a hut, so maybe not an adventure, but a nice recreational hike. I haven’t been to the ocean for a long time and the waves looked great, so I ran into the sea to play. A few of my friends waved their arms and made a cross sign and shouted to stop, while I was already in the water. I came out and explained that I can still feel the ground and that there is no underneath current. Six surfers died the day before by a current thing in the Netherlands or so, so my friends were worried about the crazy currence in New Zealand now. Not sure about the connection. We hiked further and Lauren twisted her ankle and we went into the night, but we had headlamps and survived the night before, so for me it was no reason to worry.
The first time I got a little bit scared was on the parking lot, when we as a group the first time to split up and I had to put all my trust in a tired driver who just hiked for the last 7 hours and didn’t sleep good the night before and with all the possums on the road in the darkness. But that was the moment, when the group felt safe and the adventure was over. Not for me! Statistically, there are more car deathly car accidents than hiking accidents, but somehow with all our crazy gear and even if climbers some of us fear nature more than a crazy fast driving car. I enjoyed the hike and survived the car ride!
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself (T. Roosevelt)
Fear keeps us alive but sometimes it also stops us from living sometimes!
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. (Mark Twain)
I wished I would have failed more often and feared less, because that would mean that I have tried and have been brave more often! I didn't fail a lot in my life, which means I haven't lived enough out of my comfort zone! I feared a lot in life and that means that I regret now even more. The problem is that the fear of the future is converting into the regret of the past, which is even worse than fear. Failure isn't really existing. Failure is a definition you make up yourself. Often in other eyes or out of another point of view it isn't even failure it's just a lesson - a life lesson.
Sometimes even the big mistakes seem worth making (Deborah Boskuy)
If I find 10.000 ways something won't work I haven't failed. I'm not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward (Edison).
Regret and Worry is wasted emotion.
Fear never bites as hard as regret! (BE by A.C.Ping)
Failure is like a free tuition (Thomas Gomy)
Pain is temporary. If I quit it last forever (L. Armstrong)
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling down but in rising each time we fall (Nelson Mandela)
Worrying doesn't take away tomorrow's pain. It takes away today's peace. So, feel it and let it go! (LizAdulting.com)
Train yourself to let go everything you fear to lose (Yoda)
If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever (The Dalai Lama)
Let it go, Frozen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk)
The beautiful thing about children is that they don't have this fear. A beautiful dutch movie is called "Cool kids don't cry". About a girl having blood cancer - leukämie and still enjoying life - just beautiful, because kids are cooler than us and don't cry but live the moment.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSEcWlo3iU)
LIFE
"Grey, Dear Friend, is all theory, and green is the golden tree of life (J. W. Goethe, Faust)
“Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.”― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
Most people view themselves as waves and forget they are also water. They are used to living in the realm of birth and death , and they forget about the realm of no birth and no death. Just as waves live the life of water, so too do we live the life of birth and no death. We need to know this...(Thich Nhat Hanh)
Live the moment! What you don't have at the moment isn't real. A promise, a contract, a job, a plan, a dream, the future - not real!
Life is an unknown, internal, short and wonderful story!
Life is an unknown. You don't know. Nobody knows (Lance Armstrong)
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist, that is all (Oscar Wilde).
When we least expect it, life seats us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back (Paulo Coelho).
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
I. Let go of the life we planned, so as the life that is waiting for us can come
II. Embrace your suffering. Suffering is nature's way of indicating a mistaken attitude - you have to die a few times before you can really live.
III. Become aware: Become completely engaged with what you're doing in here and now.
IV. Spend money on experience instead on things. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench.
V. Return to Nature. We do not come into this world. We come out of it as leaves from a tree.
VI. Each breath is one breath closer to death - Life is a blessing.
Top 5 Regrets of Life (Bronnie Ware)
1) I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2) I wish I hadn't worked so hard - Purpose & intention - Simplicity.
3) I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
5) I wish I had let myself be happier - Happiness is now - No regrets - Smile and know
12 Rules for Life - An antidote to chaos (Jordan B. Peterson)
1) Stand up straight with your shoulders back
2) Treat yourself like someone you're responsible for helping
3) Make friends with people who want the best for you
4) Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.
5) Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.
6) Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.
7) Pursue what is meaningful not what is expedient.
8) Tell the truth -, or at least don't lie.
9) Assume that the person you're listening to might know something you don't
10) Be precise in your speech
11) Do not bother children when they're skateboarding
12) Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street
Song:
Lonely soul, The Beach (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz2Tl0KVPWc)
Through the Storm - Grief (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB98ldnUcTE)
The Trad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPWta7ZNFpc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB98ldnUcTE&t=2s
DEATH
Death basically just means: “We have lived!”
"A cemetary is a house full of rich people (, who can't spend the money anymore but would be happy to exchange every single dollar for every moment."
"Every man's life ends the same way and it's only the details of how he lived and dies what distinguish him from another.
I actually think we are sometimes focusing too much on death. During a ceremony we shouldn’t be sad about a person, who is gone but happy and glad about all the beautiful time we have spent with this person.
When I talk with people about the movie “Into the wild”, a lot of friends say it’s their favourite movie. But when we actually talking about the movie, a lot of people are just telling me how stupid this guy was by eating the wrong plant without bein informed and how selfish he was not to contact his family. I think it's not fair just to focus on one moment, maybe the death. It might be the most intense moment but over this moment we should never forget all the moments before. In the End a Life is more than the Death!
A Life is all the Happiness, the Love and Laughs and Dreams and Adventures we experienced and shared with friends. All the people we met and influenced. That is Life and that's what we should remember a person for when we are standing at their grave praying for them. Not the one stupid, unfortunate moment, when the person made a mistake or got sick. That would be judging without being in their situation at that time.
“When I’m dead, who cares? I don’t! (Freddie Mercury)
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