2011...Adventure Uncommon!

I stole the title of today's post from a website I happened upon called http://www.epicquest.com/. I was looking for photos for this blog, and found this site. Amazing photos and inspiration. I love this site, because it's all about the big picture stuff. It's all about the spirit of adventure.

Even though I'm not in a position to do any of this stuff, as I think I've it left it a little too late on alot of this adventure stuff, I think it's something I would have loved to have done when I was younger. Sometimes we discover a little too late what amazing things there are to do in this world.

I do have a friend, or probably moreso an acquaintence who is related to a good friend of mine. He happens to do alot of this sort of stuff, and is in Europe as we speak, hiking through mountains and snow. He has an amazing life, and he's engineered it that way. His forte is mountain biking.



To be honest, after three days of total debauchery of the food and exercise kind, I was feeling rather sluggish and slovenly.

Until this morning....

Then BAMMO! The adrenaline kicked in, and it was hallo motivation!

You see, I did a GoCycle class this morning at the gym. It was just the very kick in the butt I needed, and it was AWESOME! The instructor was pumped and he kicked butt...my butt actually.

Now you may or may not know that I'm not really a big fan of the 'cycle/RPM' class. But I have to tell you, after this morning's class, the feeling of pushing myself to the limit was kind of addictive. So I'm heading back tomorrow morning for a repeat dose of adrenaline. Even though I love training by myself and don't usually require the external motivation, it's times like these that group fitness classes come in handy, and it was the type of thing I needed to get me going.




Of course, it's not the same type of adrenaline rush you'd get jumping out of a plane; cycling through the Pyranees doing the Tour De France; or doing the Hawaiin Ironman Triathlon.

But you know, there's always going to be someone doing it better and bigger no matter who you are. It's important I think, that we can draw inspiration from different sources and realise that our own aspirations, regardless of how they compare to others, inherently are of no lesser value than another person's aspirations. As long as we're giving it our very best and enjoying the process, we shouldn't doubt our own abilities.

Sometimes we box ourselves in when in comes to the genre of sport or exercise that we do, and we fail to see what else is out there. We can become a little stale and wonder why we do what we do, and what the point of it all really is. Yes, we know it's to keep us fit and healthy, but that's not always going to keep us going day-in, day-out. We need to draw on other things to help us fuel our own motivation. Sometimes I think we need to step outside of our own little world and experience or even catch a glimpse of what adventure really is, and to see what people are doing and the things they're willing to do to push themselves to their own limits. It can help us view our lives with a fresh perspective.

And this morning I think I caught just a glimpse of something...adventure uncommon. Inside those four walls, for just a short time, it was me looking over those handle bars, traversing those spectacular mountains and valleys in Europe!

So drawing from what Hannah has posted about recently, today's post is more about stoking the inspirational fires coming into 2011. As we come nearer to the close of 2010, as everyone else is doing, I'll talk more about my goals for next year and reflecting upon the goals I set the year just gone. It's good to set new goals, but I think it's equally important to reflect upon the previous years' goals, look at what we achieved and didn't achieve, and what lessons we can learn.

See you on the other side!