Reality Bytes

Great day today in the back country. Cold, wet, rainy. I don’t care. I needed time to rest and just get thoughts together. Slogged my way in over battered roads filled with the aftermath of rock slides and a very wet winter. Its like driving on a washboard….It takes two and a half hours to go 30 miles. Time well spent.

Time with my pups, time to think. I have had a good nap, coffee over a campfire, grilled some brats on an open flame. Wind gently rocks the trees and my hammock. Somewhere between naps I record a couple of long over due podcast, something I like much more than the videos we do. (making good video is really difficult- we suck at it.) Chilled by the wind blowing across my back I decided to ponder the cold, walk back to the fire, and now you are stuck with my thoughts below…

Sobering thoughts occur. Not nostalgic, not morbid, not even melancholy. I am becoming more and more aware of various realities which for me is good. I often wonder if I live alone in some kind of self-created world. Its good every now and then to take a moment and wonder what is real and what is Memorex. (I understand that some of you will not get this tag line at all….that’s okay.)

I admit that I have wondered out loud at who reads my blogs, subscribes to my podcast, and who watches the videos. It blows me away when I see that on one video I get 50,000 views. At the same time, I quietly wonder why some videos only have three views…..two of which are probably my own. When I pour out my heart in one media and only 5 people have read it, yet my dog Trigger who has a blog has at times 10x to 20x the fans, comments, and inquiries about t-shirts and mugs….well I have to ask myself what is going on. (I secretly wonder if Trigger has hired a PR manager)

We live in a world bombarded by messages. Our news, our social life, our education, our updates are channeled through a network and often measured in bandwidth. I find it a blinding glimpse of the obvious when I get more views about a backpack or survival knife than a bantering between my wife and I about a project for the most part people just don’t understand. I don’t blame them. I mean here I am touting the the life of loving the outdoors, try something new, be adventurous in life….and at the same time I often just want to curl up in an easy chair with a bag of chips and the newest concoction of cheese sauce. People have choices….and in Uzbekistan I seem to be one of them. I really don’t understand that one.

People are tired and want to live through the lives of people they see in Amazing Race, they don’t want to be part of an amazing race. I often think that televised sports is so popular (and I love my football and hockey) is because there is no risk. You can sit in your man cave (or the female equivalent) and comment on the “shoulda” or “coulda” without having to be in the situation. You don’t have to face the violent hits, or the frustration of contract negotiations. I admit, I hate reality TV. I think we are teaching the next generation the only way to resolve conflict is through more conflict. Take any of the shows you see, Axe Men, Deadliest Catch, Next Top Model, etc and put these into your current work environment….its like an HR nightmare. There is very little reality in Reality TV.

I like the risk. I love the adventure. I only want a venue to show others that a lifestyle of adventure brings families, teams, friends closer together and helps to prepare them for the major adventures in life. I cherish moments like today when I can get outside and the greatest challenge is to remove a pile of bowling ball rocks dangerously blocking the road and the hardest decision was where to filter water from. I love this life.

50,000 or 5 views…. I would love to say I don’t care…. I do. It sounds egotistical. It sounds like I’m insecure….yep I admit it. But in a world where people get so much….maybe too much access to information we have to be more cognoscente of what we put out there. I make a promise to myself to balance the sharing of my goals, dreams, and nonsense with updates on the latest technology in cutlery. Deep down, like everyone, I want to be heard.

This is my life and I know it is working well. Its not a fantasy. I have a wife and kiddo that love to try new things, to adventure, to live free. My job is to guide them.

The beautiful thing…it has to be more than just adventure for the sake of adveture. More than just about kayaks and snowshoes. We have to adventure for the purpose of something greater than ourselves. That is the next adventure. The real adventure. And if only a handful of people take notice, I have to be okay with that.

And now back to the sounds of wild geese honking, the wind wiping across my campsite, time to pack up and head down a battered road to Monday. The road is a metaphor for the daily grind, and the Jeep with all of its rattles is the vehicle that carries me through it…back to another weekend of adventure.