Exploration Makes Me Feel Alive
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
At eight years old, I filled my green army canteen replica, slung around my neck, and would walk for hours, looking for adventure in the woods beyond the manicured lawns of suburbia. For those hours, I owned myself and belonged to nature. I tasted the freedom that ignited me to later dive the vast spring water caverns of Florida, summit hills featured in the Tour de France, and ski perfectly powdered slopes of Utah.
I would like to tell you that I have traveled the remotest parts of the earth with a vast library of photos and videos to document the wildest of adventures. However, I have a life full of responsibilities—a strenuous job, family…yard work. I am extremely grateful for the responsibilities that have caused me to be more realistic and creative in my adventures. One of the greatest beauties of exploration is knowing where home is. To be free to leave, and free to come home, grounds the adventure from isolation.
At the same time, I cannot ignore the need for exploration and adventure that lives inside of me and is craving release. The outdoors feels like freedom, and I’m ready to expand. I need—we need—less of the same. The same mundane expectations that are placed without value. The color of life is more brilliant through the lens of curiosity.
What makes us feel alive? If we make a list of the things in life that bring us happiness, fulfillment, and purpose, we share more similarities than differences. If we really search inside, the list will probably include belonging to our relationships, the satisfaction of helping others, and working hard at something and seeing the result of it.
For most of us, the list would also have something to do with exploration, adventure, and learning. Whether it is eight-year-old me climbing a tree in the backyard, or Sir Edumund Hillary cresting Mount Everest for the first time, exploring the world around us is simply part of our nature. It’s what makes us feel alive.
One of my favorite films of all time is Dead Poets Society. If you’ve seen this movie, you’ll recall the scene when Professor John Keating, played by the late, great Robin Williams, is walking his students around a photo gallery of boys who had already run their course in life.
Professor Keating asks his students to lean in and listen closely to “voices from the past” as the students study the photos. Once the students are really listening, the professor hauntingly whispers “Carpe Diem…seize the day!”
I think that seizing the day is about living life to the fullest no matter where you live or where you work right now. It’s about discovering your passion, discovering how you can learn and grow and explore right where you are. Just start with today.
The words of Henry David Thoreau ring daily in my spirit: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms…” (emphasis mine).
And that, my friends, is the purpose of this blog site…exploration. Exploration is more than the summit of K2, or hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. And adventure doesn’t have to be reserved for that five-day vacation that accrues once a year. We don’t have to live in Patagonia to have that #adventurelifestyle. Exploration starts with an attitude. If we view the world around us with an exploration mindset, we can truly suck the marrow out of life.
I’ve learned that exploration, in its truest sense, is about seeking to discover something new. If we wait for the "perfect" opportunity to explore the world around us or wait until we can find something totally new to us, chances are we will not live a very active life. Every time I step outside I will see something new, even if it’s the same trail I’ve ridden a hundred times. Just the fact that the weather is different every day makes each adventure different that the one before! Exploration doesn’t have to be about breaking geological boundaries, it can also be about expanding personal boundaries. I discover more about myself and the world around me by pushing my limits on a bike ride or stretching myself to capture a new angle from behind the camera lens.
As this blog develops, I will share how I intentionally live a life of daily adventure, even with a 50 plus hour a week “desk” job. My vehicles of choice for human-powered exploration are bikes and kayaks, and my own two feet. Whether you share these same interests, or you explore from your motorcycle, scuba tank, or skateboard, I hope this blog site will inspire you to expand your boundaries and be intentional about a lifestyle of outdoor exploration.
As I write this, I am overlooking my backyard kayak hut, which contains the family fleet of kayaks. My bikes are tuned and parked in the garage. Even on days where these sit idle, just having them in sight and knowing they are ready for my next adventure ignites my joy for exploring the world around me. I hope to do the same for you through this site. I hope to inspire you to make exploration a part of your everyday life so that you don’t just live, but you explore!
