It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons. ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.
I’ve always been an early riser, As a kid I’d drive my parents nuts on weekends. I’m up at 6 and they’re trying to sleep. When I went into the army, the sergeant waking us up at 4:30 a.m. was a piece of cake. I was ready to go. I still wake up early. I set my alarm for 5:15 a.m. I’m awake by 5. My alarm never goes off. I’ve always carried an excitement within me about the day ahead. I don’t want to take a moment longer snoozing. There is too much to do, too many people to see, and wonderful places to go to. Life is a wonderful adventure. Where are you off to today? What exciting plans are you putting into play?
To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
It feels safe to stay within the confines of what one knows and has experience. The irony is that staying within one’s perceived safety zone is no more safe than stepping out of the safety zone on a risk taking adventure. At one point in my career I was working in a community situated near a large military base. The government announced it was closing the base. Many of the civilian workers on the base refused to believe it would happen. They did not want to move out of their community. They did not want to look for a new job. When the base closed they were left scrambling for work or relocating. When we forego the notion that staying is safer than leaving we open ourselves to a world of wonderful adventures. The adventure may take you to a place you recognize as your destiny.
NOTE: 2024 is ahead. What unfulfilled dreams do you have? Have you put your dreams on a shelf to wait until the right time? Now is the time. Now is the moment. You won’t find a better time or moment than now to ignite the fire in your belly to chase your dream or to embrace a new bolder dream. Turn your dream into an adventure. Let your dream light the spark that sets your passions ablaze.
“For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
NOTE: The new year is will be here in a few days. It offers 366 days (2024 is a leap year) of adventures. Will you choose to be an adventurer or will you chose to watch life pass by? Age doesn’t matter. Adventures await us. Now is the time to start dreaming of the adventures you want to take. Adventures come in all sizes and shapes. No two adventures are exactly alike. Think of an adventure as experiencing life differently than you’ve been experiencing it. Sometimes life thrusts an adventure upon us. Other times, we can choose to explore new and exciting adventures. Yes, there still are so many things each of us has never seen.
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Lewis Carroll’s work, Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is available for free download from Project Gutenberg here.
“It was much pleasanter at home,” thought poor Alice, “when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole—and yet—and yet—it’s rather curious, you know, this sort of life!”
Note: What we know feels safer than what we don’t know. That is difference between the risk takers and those fearful of taking a risk. A risk taker knows the familiar is safer but has confidence that he/she can cope with the unknown. They plunge ahead cutting the ties to their safe environment. They dare to take a chance. Win or lose they are ready to give it their all. They live without regrets and never wonder “what if.” Do you dare to cut loose from what feels safe to pursue a great adventure?
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Lewis Carroll’s work, Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is available for free download from Project Gutenberg here.
“There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so
very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh
dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!” (when she thought it over afterwards, it
occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all
seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its
waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to
her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a
rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and
burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was
just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.”
Note: I like this opening to Alice in Wonderland. Alice chases the rabbit and goes down the rabbit hole without hesitation. That’s how we should chase our dreams. We should go after them without hesitation. We should be thinking of chasing our dreams as an adventure. If our dream is worth thinking about, our dreams are worth pursuing. No looking back. No fear. Plunge ahead with full speed.
