Beautiful Adventure

Lately, I have found myself wanting more out of life. I am not happy with climbing three times a week and spending the rest of my time essentially immobile, in one activity or another. Sure, I go on the occasional weekly bike ride. Sure, I go slacklining monthly. But I'm just no happy with the way things are. I have met quite a number of people lately who are well traveled and well experienced. They have lived in Italy, or backpacked through Peru, or lived in a van in Jackson for a year. The more people I meet, the more I am able to identify a pattern: the coolest people I know are the people who have had the most varied experiences.

And this causes me to wonder about my own life. I have had very few experiences. I have been to Alaska for a summer. That pretty much covers it. I don't even make weekend climbing trips. I am in the epicenter of great western climbing trips, and I have made one. That is pathetic. Add to this the fact that I am a recreation major, and you begin to wonder what the bugger is wrong with me. Why am I not experiencing life and the world?

In the past, I always attributed this to the fact that I am just not a traveler. But maybe I was just thinking about it wrong. To me, traveling always just seemed like a waste of time. You go somewhere, you look at stuff, you spend money, you come home. But maybe there is a different way to go about it. Maybe traveling is about absorbing more of the world. Maybe it is about experiencing people and places and using those experiences to grow and improve yourself. And maybe I should try it?

All of these thoughts are brought on by the absolutely incredible people I have met. I look at these people and wonder how they can be so amazing. And I have realized that they all have the same thing in common. They have actually done some really cool things. So, in my quest to improve myself, it would seem that I need to put some really cool things in the queue. Maybe I will go hike the appalachain trail. Maybe I will live in England after I graduate. Maybe I will just start weekly trips to adventure on my weekends. Whatever it is, something has to happen. I have to start experiencing the world that God has created for me.

So, Yes, I would like to go with you to Zion. Yes, I would like to go boating. Yes, I would like to go live in Italy with you. And Yes, you are invited this weekend to go to Goblin Valley.