The Edge of Insanity

Being a little bit of an adrenaline junky I decided at the end of last year to take up the adventurous sport of Rock Climbing. When I first began a veil of ignorance to what accidents might actually befall (sic) me gave me brave courage to clamber up the rocky faces - a full on blinkered approach to get to the top and quickly too.

Now that I've put in a few more climbs and lead climbed a couple of times, my self preservation mode has kicked in and I now warily contemplate the bolted route questioning whether it's even possible.

This new found caution disappoints me. Is it age that makes us question our every move? It surely cant be experience since I'm yet to take a nasty fall. Despite every thigh shaking, eye-widening climb I still descend, look up and say "hey, that wasn't that bad". If only I could say that when my left elbow is jammed into a ledge, right leg is extended in a hamstring-tearing stretch and right fingers rapidly sweating their way off a miniscule handhold.

I take comfort however in the brave - or maybe insane - souls who attempt grades of climbs that the rest of us look at and say "IMPOSSIBLE!". After all, life is about pushing our boundaries, daring our minds to break through its self-created concepts of what can't be done and turning them into - Climb that? Sure, let me just put on my climbing shoes!

What Lies Beneath

Before: Fat "Ceiling"

Photograph courtesy Thames Water

Fat thickly coats a Thames Water-administered sewer in Reading (map), U.K., in May 2009.

The fat "ceiling" is the result of years of what the company calls sewer abuse—the pouring of food waste down sinks and the flushing of items other than toilet paper and human waste.
Once in the sewers, leftover meat fat gets mixed in with items like makeup wipes, diapers, cotton balls, condoms, and sanitary napkins, said Amy Dutton, a spokesperson for Thames Water, which is responsible for wastewater treatment for various U.K. jurisdictions.
"It all gets caught up with the fat, and the fat congeals," she explained. "And that's what causes the blockage."

More Than Just a Pretty Picture

 

Honduran “Desert”

Photograph by Bradley E. Clift

This Honduran “desert” was pasture and farmland before Hurricane Mitch arrived in November 1998. Torrential rains unleashed the full fury of a flooded Choluteca River, which washed away entire villages, threw trees like matchsticks, and transported enough sand from the mountains to create an artificial desert.
The deadly storm killed thousands of people and destroyed so much of Honduras’s agricultural and transportation infrastructure that President Carlos Flores Facusse said the disaster had destroyed 50 years of progress in his country.

Living Life Till It's Last Breath

For the past months I have been letting routine get in the way of learning and growing and straining my potential in the direction of my growth and goals - as so often we allow to happen in our lives.

A turn of events personally has made me pause to reassess how I have wanted to live my life and whether I am following through in pursuing this direction. In some regards it feels as though I became distracted by something along the way and wrapped myself up in it for too long - only to find that when I looked up I, dissapointedly, discovered I had not travelled as far as I had expected.

Sometimes we just get routine and commitments in the way of where we want to go and what we want to do. It often feels as though its easier to swim with the tide. But easy doesnt always mean right. I read a quote by Og Mandino and in many regards I feel as though I am shrinking into a grain of sand which is mentioned in his quote. And it made me think of so many people who have lived and died a life led like a grain of sand. One small particle amongst millions of others. Indistinguishable. Unexceptional. Surely there's more to life than being a grain amongst a billion more?

At the moment I am reading "Around Africa On My Bicycle" and I can fully understand Riaan Manser's desire to do something extra-ordinary with his life. And extra-ordinary is achievable - "to do anything worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can" ~ Og Mandino.

I like that - with gusto - and srambling through!

For me personally it's time to realign myself with my goals, to keep on following the plan and continue in my quest to grow and give back and to do something worthy and worth calling extra-ordinary!

"I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth I will apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy". ~ Og Mandino.