Today Will Only Happen Once

I had the chance to hang out with one of my younger cousins this weekend. I always love catching up with him. He was an old soul even at the age of three. I can remember having a conversation with him when I was twenty three and he was thirteen. Here’s the kicker. He was giving me advice on life. Advice that made perfect sense. And it wasn’t the kind of stuff he simply regurgitated after hearing it somewhere else, it was deep seeded wisdom. I don’t know where he gets it, but he’s got it.

Anyway, he’s nineteen now. At an age that makes me jealous of him…in a way. Jealous because he’s so young and he has so much ‘time’ and opportunity to figure out what he wants. But then I’m not jealous of him because I was that age once and I had the ‘time’ to figure it all out and now I must say I have a great life. Not to brag or anything, but I feel very happy…very satisfied. Then you turn around and look at this nineteen year old again and say to yourself “Wait, am I satisfied? Am I happy with all this? Maybe I should sell everything and travel the world.” Then about two seconds later your rational self overtakes your youthful thoughts yet again and reminds you that your ship has sailed. But has it? Maybe I should have taken a year to travel the world, but then maybe I wouldn't be where I am today.

I’ve come to the realization, the same one most people come to, that we deny ourselves those so called youthful experiences because of fear. Fear that we don’t have enough money to pay for it after we’ve paid the mortgage and all the other bills. Fear that we won’t have a job to come back to. Fear that we’ll be taking three steps back instead of two steps ahead. Every time I struggle with this I always come back to the same thought. You only live once and it’s a short ride so you might as well enjoy it. My dad always said we should extract as much as we could out of life. The good and the bad all get rolled into life experiences and in the end it makes you who you are.

I promise you I do have a point to this blog. One of the best shows on television today is called Departures which airs on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Now in its third season, it’s a show about three best friends (two travelers and one cameraman) who travel the world in search of life experience off the beaten path. The stuff they stumble upon is just amazing. For example, on the last episode they were in Papua New Guinea venturing through the town of Rabaul which is basically a ghost town now after the volcano destroyed everything back in 1994. This is not a travel show. No, it’s far more than a travel show. This is a show about life. It’s about best friends set out to extract as much as they can through their experiences on this earth.

I envy these guys because they are doing what they really want to do and they are getting paid to do it. Most of us enjoy what we like in the form of a hobby, and we could only ever dream of getting paid to do it.

Check out the promo for Departures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oXyyHs1ZU8

Here is the show website with the episode schedule: http://www.oln.ca/details.php?id=12

You can watch episodes online as well. Check it out. It’s definitely worth a watch. The cinematography is mind blowing. The scenes Andre can catch on film will give you the chills and take your breath away. The travelers, Justin and Scott are exactly like your buddies from home. After the first few minutes you’ll start to feel like you must have known them at some point in your life, or you must have drank with them at a party. Check it out; you’ll know what I mean.

Their motto: Today will only happen once.

My Motto: Make it a good one.

What song am I listening to? Unthought Known by Pearl Jam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxs7KgZFKuI