“Too many among us die at 30, and are buried at 80.” -Spellbinder

9am to 5pm. Less sunshine and cold weather. Lack of direction. Consistent, predictable routines with little to no spontaneity. Chaos in the mind without any ability to re-center. The inability to sit still, self-reflect, and find some much needed peace.

Have you ever felt like every day is a sprint? Where you start your brand new day, with the best of intentions, excited for the world, with this annoying alarm that jolts you out of bed in a rush. Not to mention, if you’re anything like me, you’re too lazy to change it to something other than the most ignorant noise for an alarm to something much more soothing, like peaceful waterfalls. Because I’m already pissed in the morning, waterfalls aren’t going to soothe me and make things better. That’s not the answer. Real waterfalls would be better.

You’re so in a rush that you don’t even stop for a moment to reflect on your life, your direction, or your purpose. That material is too advanced, it’s hard to even think about what’s on the agenda for tomorrow. Even reading this short article might be difficult because our attention spans can’t handle the time constraint we put on our days. Therefore, we’re not able to process it, and may have to re-read the last sentence because we already quit consciously processing this current moment. Instead, we scroll to the bottom of the page to see how much longer it is and we miss the point of “leisurely reading” something that peaked our interest in the first place. It’ll take you 5 minutes – just chill out and enjoy the moment.

That’s just scratching the surface. I’ve been there. We all have at some point. I think we all get there no matter how content we might be with our lives or how much “free time” we have, but some of us are better at realizing what’s in front of us than others. To live in the moment, for today, in this gift placed in front of us. That’s why it’s called the present after all. It’s time to realize we’re actually running a marathon, not a 100 meter dash.

Life is an adventure. A long one with more plot twists than we expected. Even with unexpected turns, we still make it what we want it to be and we take it wherever we want to go. We have a lot more control than we’d like to think, but only if we’re open to the possibilities and we follow our hearts to where they want to go.

Mine brought me cross-country in a 2012 Nissan Maxima, introduced me to some of the most incredible people, reconnected me with old friends at the right time who brought back some special memories, to a Carvana dealership where I sold the very thing that took me on one of the coolest adventures in life, to a one-way plane ticket to Hawaii where I knew I could create a new one. With the real waterfalls.

I’ve found that this adventure is full of opportunity. A chance to hit the reset button. An opportunity to understand who I am, what I represent, what I’m looking for in life, and adjust anything that I’m unhappy with. I don’t want to die at 30 and be buried at 80.

I’m writing so you can follow along the journey, see what I’m seeing, laugh at some ridiculous stories, and most importantly, learn what I’m learning. All as it happens.

Grab some popcorn because I like adventures…and I don’t stick to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used to.