“Let’s stop robbing the world of our destinies by hiding out in the fairbanks of our fears.”
Do you ever find yourself daydreaming in your car in mid-traffic (jaw dropped, drooling and nearly causing a collision) about quitting your job, selling everything, buying a Volkswagen bus and hitting the road? What? No? I mean, yeah, me either...Haha! Honestly though, it seems like all my friends are going on extended road trips, backpacking across Europe, traveling wherever the wind blows and living what we call, 'the life'. But is it really?
Everywhere I turn people are on an endless quest for adventure. But will adventure and experiences alone satisfy us? I've been wrestling with this myself and feel as though our desire for adventure is an external expression for a question echoing in our hearts: What do we want in life? From what I've gathered, some of the conclusions aren't as fulfilling as they appear. Some of the things we want don't bring us satisfaction, they create more questions and more searching. Our pinning for more leads us into the wild, giving into everything our heart desires.
We want all of the extreme and none of the moderation. We want everything reckless and none of the boundaries. We want everything wild and nothing too safe. We want endless youth and non committal responsibilities. We want to be alone and wander into the unknown, chasing flames of romance and bursts of dreams. We want to be famous, but not fully known. We want to be carelessly rich and indulgent in plenty. The search, the quest, the pinning after empty things lingers on: What do we want in life? And do we dare to explore a landscape unsearchable with human eyes- the mountains within us no compass can navigate?
If we have the courage to dig deeper we will find that we want truth. We want authenticity. We want to know what's real and what's really worth living for. We want love, the dangerous kind that believes impossible things can happen if you're willing to not give up; the untainted by human definition organic kind of love that makes you foolish like a bad rom-com. Not because you feel it, but because the presence of it is so tangible in your life it's both undeniable and indescribable. The kind of love that is debilitating and simultaneously gives you breath. We want this with each other, but also with the eternal. Our desire flickers like a flame in the distance, beneath our flesh and bones, bypassing the nervous system of our brains and into another world within our inner space. Quivering from head to toe we cling to adventure to pacify our fear of what may occur if we step into the light.
It's in this place that I've come to realize that what we truly want in life isn't easily cured by an adventurous escape or exhilarating experience. I've come to wonder if maybe the idea of constant travel is not so much the ultimate lifestyle as it is the ultimate fear of purpose- fear of discovering that what we truly want is going to take hard work, commitment and never giving up on that real kind of love.
Perhaps the purpose of adventure is to inspire us to run towards truth that transforms us by a world of wonder. I believe the purpose of adventure is to stimulate faith and trust in the Maker. I believe this kind of adventure is necessary in life and possible for everyone to pursue daily.
Maybe one day I'll get a Volkswagen bus and take a long road trip. That would be cool. But not at the expense of my inner freedom. Let's stop robbing the world of our destinies by hiding out in the fairbanks of our fears. Let's step into the light, be solid in what we want and allow adventure to guide us with purpose.
