My friend Tim and I recently had a ‘Long Way Round’ session. The ‘Long Way Round’ is a brilliant documentary following Ewan McGregor and his friend Charlie Boardman as they travel round the world on their motorbikes from London to New York across Europe, Russia through countries like Kazakhstan and Mongolia and over to Alaska, Canada then the US. It’s such an inspiring watch, that even if you’ve never before wanted to don leathers and helmet will make you want to jump on the nearest bike and venture into the unknown.
After five back-to-back 40-minute episodes Tim and I were craving adventure. “Lets go to Scotland!... no too far.” “The lake district, that’s closer but still beautiful… no still too far.” “Brighton… then we’d have to go all round the M25…” We ended up on the long, treacherous road to… Southend! Southend-on-sea, hardly deepest Mongolia, but there we were doing something we’d never expected to be doing that same morning. We had fish and chips, played the 2p machines at the arcades (how addictive!), hung out on the beach, I went for a paddle (stupid), but it was just good unplanned fun.
There’s something about spontaneity, something about adventure that just makes me feel more like me: freer, more fun, more alive, and closer to God. It’s so easy to keep this sense of adventure and wonder and fun when I’m away from normality – in Ibiza, Romania, wherever, but back home, in the mundane and ordinary, I loose it or forget it, perhaps neglect it.
I want to find ways to intertwine adventure and spontaneity into ordinary life. How can I keep this vitality, this excitement, playfulness and freedom without getting bogged down by the normal? I will have times of crazy adventure, but how can I keep that craziness, curiosity and exploration alive during those days that appear just like the last? How do I subvert the ordinary and disrupt the predictable?
After five back-to-back 40-minute episodes Tim and I were craving adventure. “Lets go to Scotland!... no too far.” “The lake district, that’s closer but still beautiful… no still too far.” “Brighton… then we’d have to go all round the M25…” We ended up on the long, treacherous road to… Southend! Southend-on-sea, hardly deepest Mongolia, but there we were doing something we’d never expected to be doing that same morning. We had fish and chips, played the 2p machines at the arcades (how addictive!), hung out on the beach, I went for a paddle (stupid), but it was just good unplanned fun.
There’s something about spontaneity, something about adventure that just makes me feel more like me: freer, more fun, more alive, and closer to God. It’s so easy to keep this sense of adventure and wonder and fun when I’m away from normality – in Ibiza, Romania, wherever, but back home, in the mundane and ordinary, I loose it or forget it, perhaps neglect it.
I want to find ways to intertwine adventure and spontaneity into ordinary life. How can I keep this vitality, this excitement, playfulness and freedom without getting bogged down by the normal? I will have times of crazy adventure, but how can I keep that craziness, curiosity and exploration alive during those days that appear just like the last? How do I subvert the ordinary and disrupt the predictable?
No comments:
Post a Comment