I would have been a bawling baby watching the true story of Laura Dekker and her round-the-word solo sailing adventure, at age 14(!) if my wife wasn’t in the room with me! I  was choked up during the whole movie. What a story! This sweet and pretty teenager has a will like iron. She fought her government in order to be able to battle the sea, by herself. She had a vision and made it happen. She is the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe by herself. Wow.

Maidentrip is a documentary worth every second of your time to watch. I love true stories like this, I try to watch them whenever I can.

Even though I am so inspired by long distance sailors, or backcountry thru-hikers, or iceberg ice climbers, I sometimes feel convicted that my life could be so much more adventurous, but it’s not. I see other humans (like me) on the same chunk of rock in space as me (Earth), who seem to be squeezing the most out of the realm of possibility. I wonder if I am wasting my own little life, when I could be doing much much much more.

A friend of mine was visiting the amazing hand-built Bishop Castle in Colorado. He said that he was talking with the creator, Jim Bishop, who had done this entire amazing project by himself. He said that Jim told him, that we all build our own castles. Each one of us has one. We create things in our world every day. The only difference with him, is that he chose one project, just one thing, and did that nonstop for the last 40 years.

Jim Bishop is right. If any of us did just one thing for 40 years we could produce amazing visual results. People could see for miles around, the hard work the creativity and passion we each have for life. Sadly, sometimes I can get lost in the lie that my own little world is just bland and basic. I can forget the story of my own individual path and see it fade into a grey fog of normal-ness.

Yes, we did get a TV bought on a Black Friday deal. Yes, that is just as gut-wrenchingly ‘Merican, as it gets these days. I am aware that I don’t want my whole world to be about the next ‘thing’ I get to buy. It’s such a rotten pleasure. A quick flash of adrenaline when the new stuff arrives, then it sucks away our drive and any adrenaline. I sink back comfortably with pillows all around me and let life move by while watching someone else conquer the world…

Hmm…

It’s not too late. I am building a castle right now. I am circumnavigating my own globe of existence. It certainly hasn’t reached the depth and breadth of the playground I’ve been given. I hope I don’t lose that angst when I watch a 14 year old spindly girl and her Guppy sail around the world. I hope I don’t get lost in my comfortable living room for the next 40 years. I want to be Thankful, that I have some adventurous spark still left, and at least gravitate toward the creation of something amazing. Even in the smallest of ways.

Both of these stories started out so small. ‘A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.’ I do intend to be taking that step. I see how possible it is. I hope I can keep remembering that… even when setting up my new high definition mindblowing timesucker… 🙂

Have a Great Day, A Beautiful Day, That God Has Made, For You 🙂

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols