Sunday, November 23, 2014

Into the Unknown

I miss writing on my blog. The open loop of posting on the internet serves no other purpose than to share my life with the world. If those that read care about what I do, it matters not. The wonderful thing about the internet, at least where I live, is that it is accessible to everyone. There are no chokes or limitations to what is out there. And the amazing thing is that the internet connects all of us. Think back to 10, 15, even 20 years ago, when our evening were not spent gazing down at the glow of a phone or staring in to the abyss of a screen. What did we do? It's honestly hard to remember how a Sunday evening would be spent. Today, with the tap of a screen, I can catch up on news around the world, check sport scores and buy my next outfit. That kind of thing did not exist years ago.

People often call the old days "Simpler Times". Perhaps they were, in that simplicity was due to focusing on what was tangible around you and not some network of invisible people and things. We weren't able to so easily distract ourselves. I believe that now, in our day and age, that life is much simpler and easier, yet more complicated. It's kind of a contradiction, I know. Everything is convenient to us. We can get pretty much instant gratification from anything, anywhere, yet we are also isolating ourselves to the world around us by making it more accessible. I can openly write on my blog about whatever I want and someone from Istanbul or Idaho can read it within seconds of me posting it. That didn't exist. Previously, I would have had to magically find a way to get in contact with one of those people and send posted mail out to them, wait for weeks for a response, and continue the cycle. Now I can converse freely and instantly. It's kind of weird, and a bit of a mind blow. It makes the world seem so very small.

That's why I like to shut down and get out there. That's why I enjoy doing the things that don't involve using Google maps to find direction. It makes the world seem big again. There is a lot going on right now on our planet, more than I can imagine. I can read about it, see it live, hear about it and make comments on it. Then within a day or two, it passes and the next thing happens. We always seem to rush through to the next thing, good or bad. At least I do.

So why am I writing all of this? I have no idea. I wanted to resume my blogging, since I miss it so much. Perhaps this is a segway into that adventure for myself. A first step. I'm not a brilliant person, I don't do brilliant things and don't have brilliant advice. But I do like to live and enjoy life. I like to get out there, to remind myself that there is so much to see, do, and it's a wonderful feeling to feel like you are a tiny spec of insignificance on a whirling orb of rock, dirt and chaos in a vacuum of unknown.

Standing atop of Yamnuska this past July