As summer is begins to close and some of the best trail running and camping begin to happen I can’t help to wonder if this year will be different. 2020 has been rough, and although we are just past the half way mark, most of the world wishes they could throw up that Christmas tree and call this one done. Will the weight of the year stop folks from getting outdoors for some much needed time away? Will we be defined by the thing that have happened to us? Will we allow circumstance to suppress the heart of adventure?
I’m not sure that’s possible. We are made to seek, designed to explore and are called to adventure. We are resilient and driven. We as human beings have risen through adversity time and time again and if we allow ourselves to except circumstances as the definition of our reality then we are left powerless to control who we are and how we live. Yes, times are tough for so many, but that is all the more reason why getting out into wilderness is more important than ever. Taking that break from the norm, refueling and finding perspective can be all the difference in the world between sinking and swimming in these hard times.
I can’t remember where I saw this, but there was an online meme that went like this…Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. I’m not sure that wasn’t a joke, but it does make me think. If I spend 90% of my day reacting to the 10% of what has happened to me nothing would ever get done. I would always be playing defense, and in a world that is as chaotic as it is today, nothing short of walking around depressed and defeated would be the norm for most.
We need to become the best versions of us we can be. Then we can press into the world so we stop reacting and start acting. If we are disciplined, if we have values and a charter that leaves the people and places we encounter day in and day out better than when we encountered them, we now play offense. We can get traction in our actions and change our lives from victims to victors.
I know as fall sets in soon, I look forward to the adventures, I look forward to seeing everyone else out there refueling their hearts, minds and spirits with the beauty of creation. The more you seek, the more you’ll find, and exploration breeds creativity. Let’s all take that creativity, add it to the peace, balance and refueling that happens on a good day out in nature and use it to stop reacting to the world and instead start infecting it with good. Never lose the heart of adventure.
Rob Spencer