If you’ve been following along the Pacific Northwest Tour, particularly on Facebook, you know that I just spent eight solo adventure days of camping, hiking, photographing, and relaxing at the astounding Great Sand Dunes National Park.
The subtext of that is I also had eight days without a shower, living in a tent, and facing the challenges the weather there presents. This was by no means a backcountry wilderness adventure, but even so, this altered and minimal existence offers a wonderful perspective on our daily lives.
It allows you to re-evaluate what you can live without and what you do miss about modern life. It helps you identify what you take for granted. It also helps you align the priorities of how you want to live your life and what is most important to you. It also provides a level of immersion that lets you experience a place in a way that isn’t possible otherwise.
In this week’s ATQA Twitter chat about personal boundaries, my buddy Lou of Only Dirt Roads, nailed the concept of what keeps people from pushing past personal boundaries when he said that it was due to laziness. I took that a step further to say that laziness is a disease of comfort…
Because yes, when I’m in the comforts of home, I get lazy and it’s insidious. It’s human nature and you have to fight against it if you want rich, rewarding experiences in the outdoors. Sometimes it does take a lot of energy to make adventures happen when I’m so comfortable at home. But the desire to see the natural world in a meaningful way is a strong motivator that counters that inertia. Some minor discomforts are a small price to pay for the rewards of these adventures.
So I leave you with this…
The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master. ~Khalil Gibran
beautiful photos
Thanks! 🙂