Sometimes it’s all about being inspired by someone else, and letting them lead you to something bigger. I was inspired by Derek Sivers’ wonderful post about life and was moved to add to his exploration. See more about his work below.
Derek writes about life as a continuing journey of, “crossing the world”.
“Cross the world four times.
First, in your teens or 20s, to take it all in. See it all, do it all, and learn. Get involved. Stay up all night talking with strangers, everywhere. Kiss and fall and promise to them all. Make lots of mistakes.
Cross the world the first time to fall in love.”
— Derek Sivers, to read Derek’s full post, click here.
This hit home with me on many levels having done exactly what Sivers is talking about, save the last trip, which will probably end up being my 6th.
I would add another at the very beginning,
“Cross the world as a wide-eyed child, brazen and open to everything in front of you. Explore and play, ask strangers a million questions in foreign tongues only half-understood. Taste everything possible and laugh loudly, giggling at whatever you discover”.
The timing of reading this, at my breakfast table in the early, humid hours of a North Carolina morning; coffee at left hand, journal at right, seems almost too perfect. I’ve been contemplating the shifts and shadows of my journey a lot lately. This brought me to consider a broader view, for which I am grateful.
In this 55th year of life, I’ve once again decided to “shift gears”, almost as radically as some of my gear-grinding in the past. This time it’s a realignment in my business back towards teaching a younger generation who, as I’m reminded of here, are often,(and here I’ll paraphrase), “full of answers, having done so much, made all the mistakes and see a clear path forward”.
It’s also a realignment that requires, happily, some further “crossing of the world”, from south to north, east to west, trading humidly, foggy mountains for taller, rougher, newer ones holding the promise of snow and cold, crisp air.
I’m excited again, childlike and intentionally nourishing that part of me willing to be the explorer, the questioner who giggles at whatever I find, whatever I taste.
I’m inspired as well to add,
“Cross the world in a state of wonder and curiosity. Spend some of your currency allowing wonderment to take hold of you, to shake you to the roots of your being, to break you open and re-create you as even more your self. Be more true than you ever thought possible. Find your edges and fly past them, unhesitatingly bold in your explorations.”
Derek inspired me to further my own reach and thinking, to see where my own current edges might lie at the “middle-of-life’s-road point.
What cliffs might be ahead?
What new sea to explore?
How might I re-invent myself, again, and again and again?
Read more from Derek Sivers (he’s really worth checking out).
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