When you haul your butt up a mountain
Whether you’re hiking, climbing or skiing, when you use your legs and feet to get up a mountain, you discover: Perspective. It’s obvious that as you climb higher, your point of view changes. How a mountain or valley appears from up high is different than it appears when you are down low. But the mountains give you more than just a different view. Mountain tops give you a different way of looking at life. How you look at yourself, nature and our place within it changes with gains in elevation. When you are surrounded by the results of geologic forces […]
41 Lessons earned and learned over 41 years
We all have baggage, but the real question is what you do with it. Check it and fly, or spend your life stuck in the terminal? Show gratitude often. Feel it all. Even when you don’t want to. Fear should keep you alive, not hold you back. Squash fear like that spider crawling on your bed. The only predictable thing is unpredictability. Give back. Try hard to never say, “What if?” RSVP when you are asked to RSVP. Seriously people! Learn to love to sweat. When you are young, your family gives you energy. They’re your entire world. As you […]
My favourite books of 2012
The year started off slow. I struggled to find a book that made me want to keep reading. And then the flood gates opened. One great book begat another, and another, and another. I even found a book that I count as one of my favourite books of all time. Now that doesn’t happen every year. While 2012 is not over, I thought I’d share my list now in case you wanted to pick up one or more of these for the favourite people on your Christmas list. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking […]
It’s the little differences
It was 45 degrees outside, humid as hell. I had just gone for a run in the gym on the ex-pat compound I was staying at in the Middle East. As I walked back to my friends Colleen and Mike’s home, I was thinking about how I would describe what it was like here when I got back to Canada. And then I heard Vincent Vega’s voice in my head (John Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction). “It’s the little differences.” In this classic scene from the 1994 cult movie favourite, Vincent tells Samuel L. Jackson’s character about the little differences between […]
We are small
Travel should transform. And be more than a change of scenery. Every trip should challenge your mind, your heart, your tastes, your fears, your body. While that doesn’t sound like the recipe from most people’s typical all-inclusive vacation, even the most routine and common destinations can be more. I recently traveled to the Grand Canyon and went from top to bottom over two days. And from the moment I arrived, the Canyon made me feel small. Insignificant. Inconsequential. Exactly how a vacation should make you feel. At 6,000 feet or a mile-long, the Grand Canyon isn’t the deepest canyon in the world. […]
Top 3 benefits of travelling alone
Okay, let’s be clear. Travelling with a partner or a group of friends can be more fun. But the reality for many, mostly single, people is that if they love to travel, they either have to wait for someone to come along, join a tour, or venture out and vacation alone. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to travel alone in North America and Europe many times. Admittedly, I prefer to travel with someone, but I also refuse to wait and travel until that someone comes along. I love to explore new cities and cultures….why should I wait […]