So now that my nemesis (time that is, not some baddie wearing pants over his trousers and a mask) has revealed itself to me, how to do battle with this foe?
Most of my thirties had been about being sensible (by my reckoning at least), starting a family, buying a house, starting a business, stopping man sports like crashing motorcycles at race tracks and aspiring to be Bruce Lee, etc. However, as I approached my forties, okay I guess there were some warning signs, I started to desire something else. Not different or instead of, but as well as. Sensible is nice, safe, secure, necessary but I felt an innate desire for what can best be described as 'a life less ordinary'. Okay so nothing ground breaking there, family man hits forty and wants more from life.
I've never been one to seek fame, fortune or wealth beyond my wildest dreams, not that I'm saying no if you're offering. I whole-heartedly believe life is about experiences, and the best are those involving or shared with other people. In my twenties I travelled Europe in a 1972 VW camper. It was great, I just followed my nose until the money ran out some months later. If I liked where I was I stayed a while, other days I'd wake up take out the map and just head some where new.
I travelled through Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar. Not knowing where to start I just hit all of the traditional tourist traps staying in recommended camp sites and following guide books. It was so text book that it wasn't at all uncommon to see other VW campers time and again all touring Europe like sheep and this isn't unique to travelling. I've seen many people go through life like it's a school project and they're just ticking off the boxes of things they believe, or society leads them to believe, they should do. Often without understanding the motive or consequence.
I used to have a friend just like this. It were as though life were a race to him and he was trying to get through it and tick all the boxes as quickly as possible. He finished school, went through college, straight into starting his career, found a girl got married and bought a house, started a family and this was just by the time he started his twenties. I felt if he'd have grown old and died by thirty he'd have declared himself the winner. It's cliché but I believe life is a journey and the key is to make it go as slowly as possible whilst cramming as many happy experiences in as possible.
It was only towards the end of my trip around Europe as the money started getting low that I started to go off the beaten track and really feel I was travelling, living even. Free camping in some of the most amazing scenic spots, showering on the beach in the morning before the beach crowds arrived, filling up water and grabbing cheap meals where I could. Looking back I have very little recollection of the tourist attractions but yet I have the fondest memories of the people I met along the way and the times, often brief, that we shared.
Brett the amazing Kiwi I spent many a drunken evening with at the running the bulls in Pamplona, hitch hiking with a bunch of South Africans, being bought beers by a Guardia Civil in a shady bar before he took us to a great free camping spot. Hanging out with a bunch of surfers in Lagos. The local people at the various stop off's who were just so friendly. Just a few of the many many highlights when I look back. Perhaps the biggest irony is that it costs me more to sit in the rat race ticking over than it did to travel and have one of the best times of my life.
But we make choices in life, not bad but they have consequences or trade off's if you prefer. Some use the word sacrifice and refer to it as giving things up, but when you sacrifice you give something up for something better. Let's face it, nobody would make a sacrifice if they didn't think for one moment that they would be better off for it.
I love my family dearly and would not change my choices for the world but with the clock ticking, it presents a challenge. How can I live a life less ordinary without sacrificing or diminishing what I have? Please don't think this selfish either as, perhaps more importantly, I want to show my children how to live a life less ordinary so they can learn how to get the best from their lives as they get older. I wonder how many people are in the rat race just because that's what their parents did and they knew no different?
I've never been one to seek fame, fortune or wealth beyond my wildest dreams, not that I'm saying no if you're offering. I whole-heartedly believe life is about experiences, and the best are those involving or shared with other people. In my twenties I travelled Europe in a 1972 VW camper. It was great, I just followed my nose until the money ran out some months later. If I liked where I was I stayed a while, other days I'd wake up take out the map and just head some where new.
I travelled through Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar. Not knowing where to start I just hit all of the traditional tourist traps staying in recommended camp sites and following guide books. It was so text book that it wasn't at all uncommon to see other VW campers time and again all touring Europe like sheep and this isn't unique to travelling. I've seen many people go through life like it's a school project and they're just ticking off the boxes of things they believe, or society leads them to believe, they should do. Often without understanding the motive or consequence.
I used to have a friend just like this. It were as though life were a race to him and he was trying to get through it and tick all the boxes as quickly as possible. He finished school, went through college, straight into starting his career, found a girl got married and bought a house, started a family and this was just by the time he started his twenties. I felt if he'd have grown old and died by thirty he'd have declared himself the winner. It's cliché but I believe life is a journey and the key is to make it go as slowly as possible whilst cramming as many happy experiences in as possible.
It was only towards the end of my trip around Europe as the money started getting low that I started to go off the beaten track and really feel I was travelling, living even. Free camping in some of the most amazing scenic spots, showering on the beach in the morning before the beach crowds arrived, filling up water and grabbing cheap meals where I could. Looking back I have very little recollection of the tourist attractions but yet I have the fondest memories of the people I met along the way and the times, often brief, that we shared.
Brett the amazing Kiwi I spent many a drunken evening with at the running the bulls in Pamplona, hitch hiking with a bunch of South Africans, being bought beers by a Guardia Civil in a shady bar before he took us to a great free camping spot. Hanging out with a bunch of surfers in Lagos. The local people at the various stop off's who were just so friendly. Just a few of the many many highlights when I look back. Perhaps the biggest irony is that it costs me more to sit in the rat race ticking over than it did to travel and have one of the best times of my life.
But we make choices in life, not bad but they have consequences or trade off's if you prefer. Some use the word sacrifice and refer to it as giving things up, but when you sacrifice you give something up for something better. Let's face it, nobody would make a sacrifice if they didn't think for one moment that they would be better off for it.
I love my family dearly and would not change my choices for the world but with the clock ticking, it presents a challenge. How can I live a life less ordinary without sacrificing or diminishing what I have? Please don't think this selfish either as, perhaps more importantly, I want to show my children how to live a life less ordinary so they can learn how to get the best from their lives as they get older. I wonder how many people are in the rat race just because that's what their parents did and they knew no different?
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