“It’s hard to accept, but you can’t change the past. You can’t go back and manipulate things to the way you wanted them to happen. Because life’d be meaningless and boring and just not worth living. But you can change the future and that’s a beautiful thing about life. Yes, you will make mistakes. And yes, you will have bad days - but as long as you let the past go, you’ll have such a gorgeous and bright future ahead of you. Knowing that things were meant to happen. Knowing that each day you will learn something so that you keep growing to be a better person. Life is like a rope, twined in all its complexities and yet weaved into one marvelous stream that you have the chance you use something amazing from. So grab hold of it."
“I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life your proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again”
““You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.””
Decide. Commit. Succeed.
“You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips. Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else. You will need other people and you will need to be that other person to someone else, a living breathing screaming invitation to believe better things.”
This morning as I was trying to work on my final paper, I immediately starting to not work on my final paper. I began doodling a little VW Bus, thinking about my next travels, and it reminded me of my parents. Nate and I have both been extremely blessed with such rad parents.
One story that I will never forget was a trip up to Montana with my old man and Nate. We went up there for a bike race. The plan was to drive up, race, and then my dad was going to ride his bike home, camping and fishing along the way. We were debating to drive straight home, or spend a few days in Yellowstone and surrounding areas. Our decision was made for us when we woke up, my dad had already hit the road on his bicycle, and there was a quote taped to the steering wheel.
““Only those who will risk going too far, can possibly find out how far one can go””
It may have been a simple gesture, and done without much thought, but it hit me pretty hard, and has stuck with me. I hope to be more like my old man. Get out there, push limits, push boundaries, and see just how far you can go.
“Just so you know, its the peple who are part of our lives that make every moment worth it. They reveal us, grow with us, and share our time with us. Don’t ever let them go””
“Life is like a wave, unpredicatble, always changing, ebbing and flowing... ride the hell out of it.”
Did You Know
“Did you know, you can quit your job, you can leave university? You aren’t legally required to have a degree, it’s a social pressure and expectation, not the law, and no one is holding a gun to your head. You can sell your house, you can give up your apartment, you can even sell your vehicle, and your things that are mostly unnecessary. You can see the world on a minimum wage salary, despite the persisting myth, you do not need a high paying job. You can leave your friends (if they’re true friends they’ll forgive you, and you’ll still be friends) and make new ones on the road. You can leave your family. You can depart from your hometown, your country, your culture, and everything you know. You can sacrifice. You can give up your $5.00 a cup morning coffee, you can give up air conditioning, frequent consumption of new products. You can give up eating out at restaurants and prepare affordable meals at home, and eat the leftovers too, instead of throwing them away. You can give up cable TV, Internet even. This list is endless. You can sacrifice climbing up in the hierarchy of careers. You can buck tradition and others’ expectations of you. You can triumph over your fears, by conquering your mind. You can take risks. And most of all, you can travel. You just don’t want it enough. You want a degree or a well-paying job or to stay in your comfort zone more. This is fine, if it’s what your heart desires most, but please don’t envy me and tell me you can’t travel. You’re not in a famine, in a desert, in a third world country, with five malnourished children to feed. You probably live in a first world country. You have a roof over your head, and food on your plate. You probably own luxuries like a cellphone and a computer. You can afford the $3.00 a night guest houses of India, the $0.10 fresh baked breakfasts of Morocco, because if you can afford to live in a first world country, you can certainly afford to travel in third world countries, you can probably even afford to travel in a first world country. So please say to me, “I want to travel, but other things are more important to me and I’m putting them first”, not, “I’m dying to travel, but I can’t”, because I have yet to have someone say they can’t, who truly can’t. You can, however, only live once, and for me, the enrichment of the soul that comes from seeing the world is worth more than a degree that could bring me in a bigger paycheck, or material wealth, or pleasing society. Of course, you must choose for yourself, follow your heart’s truest desires, but know that you can travel, you’re only making excuses for why you can’t. And if it makes any difference, I have never met anyone who has quit their job, left school, given up their life at home, to see the world, and regretted it. None. Only people who have grown old and regretted never traveling, who have regretted focusing too much on money and superficial success, who have realized too late that there is so much more to living than this.”
“Do yourself a favor, before it is too late, without thinking too much first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late”
Its that time of year again, my first European race on the 2013 race calendar, Boucle del Artois. I woke up to a light dusting of snow as a looked out my window this morning.... not what I was hoping for. It has been an unusually chilly spring here in Europe, and it shows no signs of warming up, but we keep on keepin on. As we made our way from Sittard, Holland to Arras, France, I watched the landscapes subtle changes and couldn't help but listen to a little Bon Iver to add to the ambiance. We sped through little villages full of history and culture, and it made me grateful for the opportunities that have been placed in front of me (Even if it is 4 degrees C). Every time I travel, I am humbled and grateful to see the way people live in different parts of the world, and to make the realization that no matter the language, no matter the country, people as whole are generous, kind, and genuine. I feel like I learn so much from experiencing new places and new people; I feel alive. I get more from one trip/adventure, than I do a semester at University. Today, I am thankful for new places, even if they are freezing.
What has been your favorite country? Why? Was it the people? The landscape? The food?
This is a picture of one of my Professors at the University of Utah's pet ferret. I am using this photo for a school project on analytics.
A few months ago, I decided to put up a large mural on one of my walls, something I have always wanted to do. A few days ago, I added a chief on the other side of the fire place. I was stoked on how he turned out! What do you think?
