Thursday, April 14

Many years, and many pounds ago, I used consider myself somewhat of an athlete.  Pretty good at a few sports, and overall a pretty active person.  I became a jogger in my 20s and got to the point where I could run 20 miles - and enjoy it.  When my fishing buddies and I started our canoe trips to the Boundary Waters and Quetico National Park in 1982, we would canoe and portage to lakes that most people could not get to - really rough portages, long hours of paddling, etc.  You would be carrying an 80 lb canoe over a long, rocky, buggy, slippery portage, and had no choice about continuing.  You just had to do it.  you had to make it to the end so you could continue your adventure.  And there were times you just didn't think you could do it, and really felt a sense of accomplishment when you did. so, fast forward 30 years (and about 50 lbs). A good life makes us soft. A few weeks back, I bought a new vacuum cleaner and 2 frying pans from Kohl's (exciting day, I know).  I paid, and walked out of the store with a reasonably heavy box under one arm, and a set of frying pans in the other hand...as I walked to the car with my purchases, they started to feel heavy and began to cut into my hands, and at that exact moment, I realized that I just don't push myself anymore.  I had to adjust my load a few times to make it to the car and it really was not a fun walk in the least.  As we get up in years, we avoid pain instead of walking into it.  We are concerned about the pain before we even do the act that would cause the pain.   I once carried a canoe by myself over a 1 mile portage - I remember that walk in crystal clear detail to this day, and the sense of accomplishment I felt as I walked past 3 separate canoe rest stands along the way and did not stop to rest.  and now a vacuum is a heavy load to carry from the checkout to the parking lot.....how the mighty have fallen. 
I watched a series on Discovery, Out of the Wild, about a group of 9 people who make a trek through the jungles of  Venezuela.  It was interesting to see the group dynamic develop as 4 of the team dropped out and the remaining 5 trekked on.  Makes me wonder how I would have done on a tough, open ended trip like that.  I like to think, like most of the people who watched the show, that I would have made it then, and could make it now.  It might even be as tough as carrying a vacuum from the checkout to the parking lot.  Just without having to eat bugs along the way.