Sunday, October 25, 2015

Advice I'm Glad I Took (and wish I would have taken more of)

Regular readers know that I'm a middle-aged husband of one and father of two. My wife and boys are the most important things to me in the world. Because they're important I have real job that provides a steady income, but only gives me three-weeks of vacation (I'm lucky at that!) per year. Honestly, I would love to spend that time almost entirely on climbing trips, but alas, I get about twelve weekdays per year to go on climbing trips - not a lot. I was just flipping through the forums over on Mountain Project. I noticed one for Ride Offered- Boulder to the Valley Leaving 9/6, and when I saw it, I felt a nostalgic little tug at my heart.

I was lucky enough to live in "The Valley" for two falls when I was a still a college kid. All-told, my ticklist from that time is rather unimpressive. Though I did have a blast, make and cement lifelong friendships and learned more about myself by sleeping in the dirt than I could have ever imagined. The climbing was amazing, and I truly became a much better climber during my time there, but the climbing exists almost as a footnote when viewed from a dozen-plus years later. After I returned from my second excursion, my full-time adult career started - climbing, and adventuring in general, took a necessary sideline.

So, onto that advice. If you're young, and you can, do it now. "It" might be climbing in the Valley, backpacking across Europe, paddling the Inside Passage...you name it. Do it on the cheap, but do it now. Adulthood has a way of popping up quickly and once it does; it is usually here to stay.

If you wait for the perfect time; you will never go. Don't ask yourself "Why now?" but instead ask yourself "Why not now?" and "If not now; when?"

Go and cast yourself into a great adventure - its lesson and memories will soothe your future.

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