My trip had a special element to it – spontaneity. I was finishing up a week of skiing in Breckenridge when my dear friend Manda Morris came up Thursday evening to join me for skiing later in the weekend. She made it up from Denver just before the “huge” snow storm hit. Thing is…the storm only pounded Denver with two feet of snow and we got nada in the mountains! So there we are Friday morning doing our first run of the day in Keystone and it’s all ice! We turned in for the day and while enjoying a beer at lunch, Manda and I saw the snow report for Taos…hhmmm…they got snow! And they were still getting snow!
That solved it…an hour later we were in her SUV and driving the 5 hours to Taos, New Mexico! The weekend was my first visit to Taos, first time skiing their mountains, and first time road-tripping with Manda. You can read the story of the trip in my other blog www.EthnosTravel.wordpress.com, but in this post I want to focus on another aspect of the trip: being challenged in what we really want out of life and who we claim to be. Now hang in there with me…maybe this is getting deep for you, which if that’s the case, this may not be the blog for you to enjoy. Thanks for trying though.
But for those of you intrigued and feeling the starting twinges of familiarity within you…well, you’re reading the right blog and relating with some similar people.
So the story goes like this – just a week before I acted out this last-minute trip to Taos, I had written a blog post about Being Synonymous with Spontaneity (click here to enjoy please). Have you ever found that when you start to really chase after what you want out of life, you can be challenged in that? It’s almost like life is saying…”Oh, so you want this and you’re going after it…okay, let’s see how serious you are about that…”. And the doors start to open, while others close, all the while carrying you on what seems like a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon. You better make sure you paddle hard so the current takes you where you want to go rather than washing you up on some shore far from your desired destination. And hey, doesn’t staying in the raft safe and dry (of course, you’re still gonna get somewhat splashed and wet), sound good for the journey as well?
“Where are you going with this Amalia?”, you may be asking by now…to this point – I believe all things can be used as opportunities for us to really go after what we want in life. We pretty much have no excuse and we’re ultimately responsible for ourselves. So what you want will seem to be challenged and at the same time encouraged and the biggest thing I’m learning about it all? Here it is…I’m the one who can turn away from it, the one who can choose fear and the illusion of security rather than take up myself and life on what I really want out of life.
This trip taught me about that. Because there I was at lunch with Manda, having just come off of skiing ice and now comfy and warm, when Manda excitedly suggested we take off spontaneously for Taos, and I hesitated! I started to come up with excuses, to feel apathetic and lazy about it! Thankfully, Manda served me up with the wake-up call question of “Didn’t you just write a blog post about being Synonymous with Spontaneity?” Uh…yeah, I had and there I was with a chance to back away from the ledge or…take a leap off the edge. Good thing I took that leap because I enjoyed several new first experiences and also came to learn, we can come equipped with parachutes! Or gliders or bungee cords…whatever your imagination fancies for the leap that helps you overcome the challenges that you will surely face in pursuing what you want out of your life.
Here’s to happy jumping and when you see me around next, feel free to raise that challenging question. I’ll do the same for you.