Human, Power.

Humans are not machines, we are not dull, boring, or thoughtless. We are just the opposite, full of questions, creativity, and insight. And most importantly, humans are fallible; we make mistakes, we fail, we hit walls, and are forced to overcome challenges, both physical and emotional.

Human power, and its place in travel and adventure is analogous to the human condition, which is our need to learn, explore, and discover. We seek to understand our limits, and we grow when we must overcome them.

Continue reading “Human, Power.”

Relapse

What’s the difference between addiction and habit? Both can be damaging to yourself and those around you. Both can be hard to break; even if you think you can stop whenever you want, sometimes knowing when is the hardest part. With addiction, part of recovery is surrounding yourself with a community that supports your new direction, but what do you do when addicts are everywhere? Where do you go and how do you cope when the habit you’re trying to break is embedded into every aspect of society, every part of community, movement and mobility?

It’s been years we’ve spent without an automobile, but there isn’t some sort of oasis we can retreat to. Automobiles are ubiquitous, they’re everywhere, and when they don’t provoke apathy, they insight anger and frustration. But perhaps the most insidious part of their omnipresence is the temptation. No matter how hard you’ve worked to change your habits, no matter how long since you’ve broke the addiction, the temptation is always there, just as far away as the turn of a key.

Continue reading “Relapse”

A Call To Climbers

Here I sit, hand bandaged in gauze and cotton, temporarily sidelined and forcibly inactive.  The slightest miscalculation and most seemingly insignificant accident and I’m left with a torn ligament in my thumb, and it’s resulting surgical repair.  After another summer of movement and adventure, I anticipated returning to a relatively sedentary winter existence, one with an abundance of reflection and introspective time, but this is hardly what I expected.  A sense of déjà-vu pervades as I re-live Liz’s recent injury and remind myself that life is full of surprises, their being good or bad depends entirely on perspective, which in turn itself relies upon your grasp of reality, your worldview and your version of sanity.  So as I recline with the subdued awareness I will not be climbing for months, that my work and play in the mountains will be limited equally, I cannot help but feel excitement and optimism for the future, and know I might be a little insane for doing so.

Continue reading “A Call To Climbers”