We men were made for adventure. That's because, according to John Eldredge (author of the bestseller "Wild at Heart"), Adam was created in the wilderness beyond Eden - while Eve was created inside the Garden where things were beautiful and serene. Says Eldredge:
"Every man was once a young boy. And every little boy has dreams, big dreams: dreams of being a hero, of beating the bad guys, of doing daring feats and rescuing the damsel in distress"
Eldredge has been pilloried from some quarters for his views on masculinity but, at least for me, the fact remains. We men are made for adventure.
The reminder came from an unlikely source - Ben Stiller's 2013 re-make of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Mitty is Eldredge's "little boy", albeit in a grown man's body. His dead end job as a "negative assets manager" (photo archivist) for Life Magazine is punctuated by fantastical flights of fancy that make him the butt end of everyone's jokes.
Then one day he receives a mysterious gift from Life Magazine's maverick photographer Sean O'Connell - a gift that will propel him on an epic journey of his own. His lurid fantasies will soon pale against real life backdrops of erupting volcanoes and towering mountain ranges, drama on the high seas and encounters with Afghan warlords.
I wouldn't know where to start describing all that this movie stirred up in me so I won't even try. But one scene in particular stands out. After a long and dangerous search, Mitty finally locates O'Connell on a remote ridge in the Himalayas. The latter has finally tracked an elusive Snow Leopard to its lair and is about to capture the picture of a lifetime. When the creature finally reveals itself, Mitty is astonished to see that O'Connell delays the shot long enough to allow the animal to disappears unphotographed. "Sometimes I just like to savour the moment without the distractions of the camera and lenses" says O'Connell.
That for me is the essence of adventure. Savouring and acting on the moments that present themselves rather than trying to stress one's way into some hyper-adrenalised sweet spot. I witnessed this first hand on my 2012 visit to Nepal. As we acclimatised for our ascent of the Thorung La Pass, most of us fretted and fussed over our readiness for life at altitude. The fear wasn't that of not summiting, it was the prospect of succumbing to altitude sickness and having to retrace our footsteps to Katmandu. We'd come to do the Annapurna Circuit and by golly we'd settle for nothing less! Two Israeli travellers however saw things quite differently. While our "rest" days were spent humping up and down mountains to acclimatise, their's were spent reclining in the sun, brewing coffee, twanging on a guitar and smoking the hubbly-bubbly. When asked about their happy-go-lucky dispositions they said: "We may summit, we may not. But who cares? We're on holiday. Anything's better than being in Israel at the moment".
"No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living in the now", said someone on Pinterest. Go ahead and live for adventure. But make sure you don't miss it in the moment.
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