Carl Hoffman recently caught my attention by traveling the world using whatever means the local population used to travel, including rickety airplanes, dilapidated trains, and roach infested ferries.
The thing that struck me about this relatively affluent American who traveled the world this way was that he just decided to do it one day. He decided to do something daring and perhaps dangerous, and he didn’t fabricate a bunch of fake prerequisites or excuses that prevented him from making it happen. He wanted to do it, so he made it happen.
There was something that drew me in about his story that I didn’t quite understand until read this interview from Worldhum.com:
Did traveling this way change the way you see travel, or change the way you see the world?
It reinforced the notion that we have nothing to fear. That fear stops us from experiencing so many wondrous things. [Emphasis mine.]
There it is, the missing element that drew me to Carl. We have nothing to fear. Grab life by the scruff and live the hell out of it.
Fantastic post! Loved it.
I’ve been following your blog Pete, though I was too shy to comment. Coming out of the shell though. Thanks so much. Hope to read more like these!
Flattery will get you everywhere 8) Glad you enjoyed!
I read about a study once that showed that at the end of their lives, people who are more loose are generally pretty satisfied with how they lived, but those who are tight often have regrets about not doing things.
Both extremes have downsides while living life, but this shows that the biggest risk in life is not taking risks. – It also probably shows that risks seems lessor in hindsight.
.-= Rich Sedmak´s last blog ..Why Facebook’s Open Graph Will Fall Short In Converting “Social Proof” Sales =-.
Completely agree, and I’d love to see that study. It’s like the Fear and Freedom essay I linked above, which says that the biggest threat you face is apathy and boredom. I really think it’s true.