Everyone - Go Do Something Epic!!!

     Summer is upon us and it time to get out and do something EPIC!    As adults, most of us tend to think that what we do is ordinary, average, or perhaps mundane but rarely do we think of what we do as a grand adventure or "epic".   Even when I was racing sled dogs, I loved doing it, made it my lifestyle and devoted huge amounts of time to the venture, but I would have been reluctant to call it an epic adventure.  Epic adventures were, or so I thought, the province of others.  For example,  Iditarod racers were doing something amazing and thus epic.  We were just racing our dogs. 

Pardon the language but I love the sentiment - even a little kid can do something epic, because it is epic to him.
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     This "mature" view really can suck the fun out what we are doing, make adventure seem like work or even discourage us from just getting out there and doing whatever it is that interests us.  It is time to dump the mature view and return to a child's point of view when it comes to adventure.  Sleeping in a tent in the backyard is an epic adventure to a child who is excited at the prospect of doing something different than the routine, something that might be a little scary or even a little uncomfortable.  All those things make that night in the tent truly "epic" for that kid.

     As an adult, we need to let ourselves find that same sense of excitement, enthusiasm, fear, and maybe even discomfort to do things outside of our routines.  If we do, then whatever we are doing can once again feel like an epic adventure.  When the things we do feel like an epic adventure, then we are more likely to try still more and grander adventures.  Whether it is climbing a mountain, learning to ride a motorcycle or going on a quest to find the best green chile cheeseburger, in the right frame of mind, it can all be "epic."

     The trick is to not minimize our own experiences by comparing them to the adventures of others.  Let's face it, there will always be someone, somewhere whose adventure is bigger, grander, more difficult, covers more distance or otherwise seems more spectacular than our own adventures.  It is great to be inspired by those adventurers, but it is equally important to to appreciate whatever level of adventure we are experiencing and not to discount our adventure as somehow less because someone else did more.  

     This past winter, I did my first winter bike camping trip in Alaska.  For me, it was a tremendous experience and a huge adventure.  The next day, dozens of ultra-atheletes rode down the same trail I had covered, passed the cabin where I stayed and raced onward another 9 times the distance.  Clearly, the accomplishments of these ultra-atheletes were vastly greater than what I had done but, that doesn't mean that their experience of adventure exceeded my own experience of what was an epic adventure to me.  Instead, I know that I did something pretty epic in my world and I am inspired by the ultra-racers to do something just a bit harder next winter.

     So let's all find what makes for an epic adventure for each of us, get up off the couch, and go play like a child wearing a superman cape.