Westward Ho!

Webster’s dictionary defines a “pioneer” as:

1. First of a kind.
2. One that begins or helps develop something new and prepares a way for others to follow.
3. A plant or animal capable of establishing itself in a bare or barren area (as after a burn) and initiating a new ecological cycle.

What do those definitions do inside you as you read them? Do
you find yourself saying “That’s ME!” or “I wish I was more like that” or “I
don’t understand that way of thinking…why would you ever want to be first and
be the one to make all the mistakes?”

It seems there are two basic types of people…pioneers and
settlers. Those who wonder what’s over the next hill, and those who are
perfectly content to settle in the valley.

I was watching Seinfeld last night and heard Kramer ask
George “Do you ever yearn?” George replies “I’ve craved before, but never
yearned.” Kramer wants to move to California
and wants George to break out and go with him. George isn’t interested in
disturbing the status quo but asks Kramer, “So, are you really going to go?”
Kramer points to his head and says “Up here…I’m already gone!”

Do you yearn? Are you restless to find out what’s around the
bend, over the hill, across the street, around the corner, behind the curtain,
outside the box, or under the carpet? I think it’s built into each of us to
explore, to wonder, to be curious about the stuff around us and more
importantly the stuff that’s “out there.” The problem is that most of that
sense of wonder is beaten out of us by public schools and well meaning adults
by the time we’re actually ready to launch into our own lives as grownups.

What valley have you settled in? When did you decide to stop
exploring, to stop wondering what might happen if you crossed that river or
climbed that mountain?

It’s time. Time to learn, time to grow, time to go!

In the words of Andrew Largman in the movie “Garden State,” Hey Albert…good luck exploring the infinite
abyss!

There is an infinite abyss yawning out before you
today…right now. Don’t settle and don’t wait until tomorrow. Saddle up and
ride. You don’t want someone else to experience the stuff you were supposed to
see first…do you?