19 Oct Why Adventure Wins

Enjoy the following few photos from a recent adventure, accompanied by a few random semi-cohesive thoughts from the road!

1. Fear of failure is the darkest of captivities. I think that failure is only failure when you let it win. Sometimes not achieving your goal on the first try is actually a really great thing – it teaches you to look at the problem differently, to persevere and try harder, and gives you something to work towards. Zion defeated us with its epic climbs, to say the least, but I don’t feel like I failed – I just feel like now I have a really epic goal to work towards. Take a risk, put yourself in situations you think you’ll ‘fail’ – you’ll learn a ton in process!

2. “An integral part of adventure is planning to change plans.” Wise words from Mr. Carmichael here. Don’t be afraid of spontaneity, but embrace the moment and adapt as you go! Figure out what it is you’re excited about, and do it. Don’t feel guilty for changing plans to accommodate that – be bold enough to follow your passions, even on a small-scale.

3.Patience is a pretty great thing. Kind of a random thought, I suppose. We spent the night camping in Oak Creek Canyon, just outside of Sedona, where we saw some of the most gorgeous stars ever. I’d always wanted to take star trail photos, but never had the patience. Always bailed before I got the full effect or got bored and tried something new. This time, I decided to be patient. I set up the shot and waited – I journalled by the fire, read in the hammock, made some tea… For 24 minutes. And it worked. Patience allowed me to see achieve something I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.

3. Rest is important. Adventure is awesome, but sometimes it’s important to stop and reflect and think and just take in the beauty of what’s around you. Float down a twisty red-walled canyon in kayak and do nothing but stare up at the bright blue sky. Take a nap on the side of a cliff. Chill in a hammock in a beautiful tree and write something. Don’t miss the now, but don’t be afraid to take some time to dream and be excited about what is and is to come!

4. Food tastes better in epic locations. Pasta + chili looking at this view in Zion? Amazing. (Also, any time is a good time for tea!)

5. Adventure wins.
A bit of a mini-story for this one: After kicking off the trip with a couple of siesta and taco-filled days on the beach in Mexico, we decided to head back home early to get a head start on our Northwardly adventure plan. Desert roads tend to not be the smoothest at all times, so I didn’t think anything of the bumpyness during our nighttime trek, until out of nowhere the car drops and sparks are flying. Steven awakens just in time to see the wheel, atop the bank, racing us down the highway.

So there we were, on the side of the road before the tiny desert town of Ajo, standing beneath the brightest full moon you’ve ever seen, where our wheel became inexplicably unattached to the car, and this local Sheriff stops to help us. And somehow we end up watching climbing and adventure videos on the Sheriff’s iPhone while the tow-truck guy struggled to load our now three-wheeled vehicle onto the truck.

So bizarre.

Adventure wins because of moments like these. Because it comes in so many different and unexpected forms. It wins because it leads us to encounter the bizarre and unimaginable scenarios that make the greatest of stories. It wins because it puts us in the most beautiful of places to prove that the world is most definitely not lacking in beauty or diversity. It wins because it forces us to push ourselves to jump into the unknown and accomplish what we’d only previously imagined.

Adventure wins because it is a life inspired by seeking after experiences bigger and better than the norm. Who wouldn’t want that?