#WorkoutWanderlust - An introduction
Everybody needs to hit the “reset” button from time to time.
The day-to-day management of modern life, parenting duties, on-the-job stress and the ceaseless inundation of way too much technology can leave even the most balanced person occasionally feeling like they don’t recognize their own life.
Mix in some gritty, grubby home renovation in the middle of a Floridian summer and the most contentious election cycle, like ever, and you’ll likely find yourself crying in the kitchen on a Tuesday morning after you realize there are no more coffee filters.
Oh wait, that was me.
After making the decision to move on from a job I liked in search of something I’d love, I knew this was an opportunity at an emotional “clean slate”. There’s been more change in my life in the last year than many people see in a decade, and rarely have I taken more than a few minutes to appreciate, reflect and absorb the state of things.
When things build up like this in life, some people drink themselves stupid. Some throw themselves into work with all the ferocity they can muster. Some shut the door and go to great lengths to avoid the world.
I fill up the gas tank or buy a plane ticket and go.
It doesn’t really matter where, or with who, all that matters is that it’s somewhere else with plenty of options for getting outside and staying as active and busy as possible. Ideally, wherever I wind up will have water, waves, mountains and or trails, and a nearby microbrewery.
They key is to spend as much time noticing the world around me as possible, in as many new settings as possible. This insatiable quest for adventure and experience remains a consistent undercurrent at all times. Sometimes it lies dormant for a stretch of time, but then, often triggered by something as simple as a strangers “I left my heart in Portland” bumper sticker, it comes roaring back with so much intensity it seems hard to concentrate on anything else.
I call it workout wanderlust, and my goal is to embrace it and make it a lifelong commitment. I promise to feed this beast forever, to stuff it full of adventure until it bursts at the seams. I promise to seek beauty, laughter, sweat and tired feet everywhere I go, and to never, ever stop going.