The Case For Being Unprepared

There are two main categories of people:

A) Those who plan everything, all the time. Research. Research. Research. Details. Plan A. Plan B and C, and D, and even E. You get the picture.

B) And then there are those who just go and wing it. No plans, just moving along like a cork in the ocean—bobbing happily bumping into a fish, a boat, a shoreline.

I think that I fall somewhere between A and B. However, I wonder if I were more of a researcher, how much would I actually do? I came across a video of the peak of Mount Olympus taken by a drone. I hiked to that peak. The hike was physically challenging but it was the last scramble that really pushed my boundaries. In fact, there was a moment when I became stuck on a giant bolder, not knowing where to put my foot, hand, brain to proceed. An overwhelming feeling of regret washed over me—a regret of almost every choice that led me to that horrific moment. I wondered if there was cell service. I wondered if I could call a helicopter to get me down. I’m blogging so obviously I made it up to the top and down. No helicopters were called.

If I had seen this video of Mount Olympus before I went to the top I don’t know if would have gone. I hope you enjoy it and if you have a fear of heights or vertigo, you are officially warned.

Eavesdropping

Sitting in class I hear a lot. Often, while students are creating they are also chatting. Sometimes I feel like I’m eavesdropping behind my big ol’ teacher’s desk. Recently Oliva said “I’m too embarrassed to admit that I can’t do something so I just use my blind confidence to do things. I just use that to push myself to try things I didn’t know how to do and because of that I’ve done some things I may not have done.”

Blind confidence

Olivia got me thinking about this idea. For a large part of my life, I did not proceed with confidence of any kind. At. All. But, as time went on and I noticed that I was able to reach certain goals, and accomplish certain basic things that tiny seed of trust in myself started to grow.

Eventually, basic activities became a little less basic and a little more complex. I realized that I have a spirit of adventure within me.

I thought about what Olivia said. Ego kept her from openly admitting that she could not do a particular task yet faith in herself was what she knew for sure could help her figure it out. What a mature concept to just have blind faith in oneself, to experience the world more thoroughly.

Didn’t know

Things I would not have done if I had planned ahead and researched:

1. Climbed Mount Olympus: It was so scary looking at the top, from above and seeing how high up we were.
2. Hiked to Grey Owl’s Cabin alone: I never considered the bears in a 20km hike into the woods without bear spray.
3. Gone up in a hot air balloon: Apparently there are horrific videos of them on fire.
4. Run a half marathon: It takes a toll on hips and physiological resources for rookies like me.
5. Visited Venezuela (at the time it was the murder capital Of. The. World.): Nuff said.

Well here I am

I have no regrets with the way I do things. I guess it’s my style and the way I operate in the world. I do have some organizational tendencies. I’ve used them for some of my adventures—but not all. The man with the mustache in the photo was a guide who took us up to the top. He’s now a friend. I knew enough not to do this alone. My brother (holding the flag) came along and my beast of a niece came too. How does one top that at the age of twelve?

My cousin says that both the images in this post look like a superhero movie poster with the motley group: the senior adventurer, a child, an artist/writer/teacher, and a computer programmer. When I look at the video I think that the four of us kept up beautifully with the mountaineer experts. I am a peer to the youthful,-cargo-pant-wearing-trekking-pole-using adventurous dispositions of the people who made video.

So, with that, plan or no plan, I’ll keep on adventuring. Life is short.

As always, thank you for reading lovelies.