“Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.” Norman B. Rice

I think this is a wonderful quote that can give definition to what I’m hoping to accomplish during this cycling adventure, in life in general, and for the future that is to come.

Reaching your hand into darkness

Reach your hand into Darkness...pull another into the Light

I’m sure many of y’all have seen the ‘reality’ show Fear Factor, a TV show in which contestants are put in seemingly dangerous, gross or otherwise adrenaline packed challenges for their shot at $50 thousand dollars.

One of the challenges that is often times met with quite a bit of difficulty is when a contestant must reach his or her hand into a veiled box, grab some sort of odd creature, thing or bug and pull it out. Easy enough right? Not really.

You don’t know what’s in the box so anxiety and fear grabs hold of you. “What in the hell is that?!” people shriek, promptly letting go and wasting precious time. It’s assumed that the first contestant has the short end of the stick. Everyone gets to watch AND prepare themselves for whatever demonic being is about to emerge in the hands of the guinea pig (guy/gal No.1). It’s awesome in so many ways, but what really sticks out to me is how hard it is for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th participants even AFTER they know what’s in the box.

Knowing what’s in the box is scarier than NOT knowing

While not always true, lets pretend that it is and extend that thought into other areas of life, particularly concerning doing, learning or experiencing something new.

Too often people settle and fall short of their dreams. Too often we think something is too difficult or hard, not worth attempting and don’t see a benefit in accomplishing trials that are survived only at great cost (think Spiritual, Emotional or Psychological).

Upon announcing that I was going to attempt a cross-country tour of Canada, the first gestures of acknowledgement that people understood what I was talking about were thoughts of Fear and Safety.

To date I’ve been warned of cars, trucks, weather, bears, pumas and other sorts of wild cats, fatigue, dehydration, crazed meth-addicted rapists, thieves, etc. The list goes on.

The scary part I conclude is due to the departure from a common safety zone that we all share. In this case, the city or home. I don’t think there are more dangers in doing what I’m doing, they’re just different than to what I’m accustomed.

Being far from my comfort zone is what this trip is all about. How will I cope with the unknown? How will I deal with unforeseen events? What if this? What if that? What can I learn? And once I learn it, how do I bend and shape it for my own uses? Will I dare reach my hand into the dark box?

Comfort is something we all want. That is, a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. Well being, prosperity and the pleasant lifestyle secured by it.

There will always tomorrow until tomorrow never comes. We’ll never truly know when that day will come, but we live as though we’re well endowed with the plentiful assets of future days.

Within that lies my Interior Odyssey…

Interior Odyssey

What can I do today to make tomorrow better for myself and those around me? What do I need to do? What can I stop doing in order to accomplish that?

I hope you’re asking yourself those same questions. If so, what are the answers? Please feel free to share them.