Live Life: The Joy of Pain and Agony of Winning

I feel bad for people who don't do anything. I am active, always have been.  I love adventure.  I crave adventure.  I am not content watching television, playing video games all night (sleeping most of the day), fantasy football, or those card games (magic stuff and Pokemon).  These things do not satisfy me and I don't believe it truly satisfies those people who become consumed by them.  Bodies and minds crave stimulating activity and exertion.  Humans were not designed to be idle and humans have not adapted well to a sedentary lifestyle. 

I wonder what kind of stories they will tell when they get old; "one time I found myself backed into a corner and I had to use my level 10 wizard to destroy your ogre and your spell of something pointless?" And by ogre I clearly am not speaking of the Surly Ogre on which I have embarked on challenging adventures. What will their obituary will say; "John spent his life sitting in his basement mostly in the dark mastering a video game and interacting with others like him instead of developing a relationship and exploring the wonders of the natural world." That rocks.

But not for me.  I often look at people in their fancy cars with heated seats while I am on my Mukluk at -15 degrees and 30 mph wind gusts.  As they look at me, I wonder if they wish they were riding a bike.  Then I realize that is a stupid question......of course they do.  Secretly I wish I had a heated seat.   

I come from a long line of people who do stuff. They got out of the comfort zone and competed; took action vs sit and let the world go by. 

They felt the joy of pain and agony that always accompanies winning!  Yes, I said that right.

We walked away from that one!

Now I am not saying that watching a sporting event or playing cards isn't a good pass time every now and then but those are not activities or hobbies in my opinion.  Those are sufficient to pass time but not to LIVE LIFE.  While my life is not always the adventure I want it to be; I constantly seek it out.  I have to balance everything in my life.  My kids, wife, and job consume most of my life but I have no regrets when it comes to living life to its fullest.  Fortunately they all provide enough adventure to satisfy enough to enjoy life.  The good thing is that I am still young and in good shape (no broken parts) and there is plenty of opportunity.

Winning!  The Chick on her way back before anyone else could get to the wall.

  My daughter is beginning to understand this a little.  Things are not often fun until you get good at them.  That is the joy of pain and agony of winning.  I want my kids to have activities that can be enjoyed for life (as long as the body is willing and capable of course).  I don't want them to sit around and play fantasy sports while reminiscing about how good they were once upon a time. 

I want them to enjoy the activity of life as I do.  That is why I love fly fishing, backpacking, and bicycling.  Each of these require activity (I don't fish from a chair).  I can tell stories of nearly drowning in pursuing fish in fast moving rivers and creeks.  I can tell of sleepless nights in the mountains of Montana and New Mexico, wondering if the lighting could get any closer while on mountain tops.  The list can and will continue to grow. 

Food For Thought, the world is changing!