taking one’s advice

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Nelson Madela

So been working on the living one day at a time and because of that great advice…last Saturday I thought that I was experiencing my last day! Michael had this great plan…go and hike up to the dune at Farwell Canyon…and I thought sounded like fun!Preparations were made. We fueled up ourselves with a little lunch and then we fueled up the old Toyota and just who can resist those oh so good Dare Fruit Gummies that are not too far from the cashier at the 7 eleven? That fruit sugar and gelatin has just got to be full of energy and just to be sure I had enough energy I brought along a gluten free chocolate banana granola sort of bar.Of course by the time we made it the 40 minutes or so to the bottom of the Canyon the gummies and the bar were gone but I felt energized! And it was a good thing too for after driving all the dam way down the canyon we now had to hike up to the Sand Dune. And I wonder why are we climbing up when we could have climbed down?The scenery of the Canyon just makes you think that at any time Wiley E or the Road Runner are going to pop out from behind a rock or a Sage Brush and I was on the look out for snakes…which I never saw but I did find out that all those little cacti bite and when they do they hang on.So off we go in the +35 or more heat (that is + at least 95 in USA temperature) and down we go but not for long for it is just to traverse a dry creek bed and then it is up…and in the words of the Friendly Giant…wayyyyy up!And holy cow it is hot. My head is sweating underneath my hat, and it is so hot my boobs are sweating and that is not at all sexy. Up we go and I am lagging behind and Michael is such a sweet guy that he stops and waits…but then as soon as I chug up to where he is…he goes…he had his rest waiting for me…so now I stop and catch my breath and have to try to catch up.So about half way up I start feeling not at all good. I don’t know if it is the gummies or the gluten free bar but my stomach is acting up and I feel like I am going to vomit…and I start feeling light headed like I was going to pass out and I feel like there is no oxygen and was having trouble breathing…I think hmmm these sound like heart attack symptoms. So I rest and while I am huffing and puffing and while maybe waiting to die I take a few pics…This one seemed slightly ominous…hmmm a long way for the para medics to climb…maybe they would just roll me down?Do you think that there might still be a body in there?Are you coming says Michael? It is just a little ways more…and it is flat. Should we call it quits?No no no you go on says I. But the point was for us to see together. So onward up I went. I never did make that dam dune summit…just getting to the bloody dune was a miracle!Getting to the bottom of the dune had my vision all blurry and the muscles that I didn’t even know I had were screaming…so I plunked meself down in that hot sand and hola! That climb was worth it for laying in 100 degree or more hot sand felt soooo good. The heat just permeated into all the aching joints and bones and all the fibro pain filled body parts just eased.I think that this near death experience was a good learning lesson…sometimes you have to get out of your comfort level to really experience life…sometimes you just have to just go for it. And while I was feeling like a complete out of shape pathetic excuse of a companion that just held Michael up and was a burden to boot I was called a trooper by the other hikers who were so impressed that I climbed up there at all and in that heat!So maybe that is what we need to do more often brave the heart attack or the scary people or the rattlesnake bites or the economic mayhem and just say what the hell and live! Some times the ‘safe’ life is just not worth living for there is no life to it…It was sure a lot more fun to be experiencing the dune than sitting halfway up the side of the cliff by myself waiting to not die…And even though I didn’t make the summit taking pics of those who did was pretty darn good!

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life;not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.Kahlil Gibran