My husband likes to read adventure stories. The REAL kind, about people who take crazy risks or climb Mt. Everest.\u00a0 He was re-telling one of these stories to me, and I narrowed my eyes at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you saying you want to climb Mt. Everest?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am just reading about it. It\u2019s very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not allowed to climb Mt. Everest. I need you not to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hugged me and promised he wasn\u2019t going to climb Mt. Everest.<\/p>\n
However, there is something compelling about the ones who choose to climb it. What on earth would possess a person to risk life and limb to do this? A lot of people do exactly this sort of thing, define some difficult and nearly impossible goal and throw themselves on the mercy of the wind to accomplish it.<\/p>\n
It is at this time of year, the turning of the New Year that people pause to think of these things.\u00a0 What have I done this year? What will I do next year?<\/p>\n
What am I doing with my life? Is this what I choose? Is it the right choice?<\/p>\n
I am still slowly making my way through the Iliad, as I\u2019ve mentioned earlier. Of these mythological warriors who are fighting the Trojan War, Achilles is understood to be the best warrior of them all.
\nAchilles, the son of a goddess and a battle machine, has a deep crisis of faith and identity when he steps away from the fighting. What\u2019s this all about, he wonders. His mother gave his a secret. His fate could go either way. He could go back to the fighting as his brothers-in-arms are begging him to do.He could fight as only he can do, win the war for them, and have glory and honor for all time.<\/p>\n
And die.<\/p>\n
Not in that order.<\/p>\n
Alternatively, he could go home and live at peace for a long life.<\/p>\n
Two possible fates.<\/p>\n
Of course his goddess mother is an immortal, and she weeps for the short life that her son Achilles is inevitably going to have. What is human life, long or short, in contrast to forever?<\/p>\n
It is something to Achilles. Shall he go do what he was born to do, be the warrior beyond compare that he can be? Or shall he tamp that down and be safe at home, enjoying the gentle pleasures and comforts of life?<\/p>\n
I am also reading the latest book by Seth Godin: What to do when it\u2019s your turn<\/em> [and it\u2019s always your turn].<\/em> Modern life offers more choices that battle glory. We have so many tools and resources at our disposal.<\/p>\n Often fear keeps us from expressing ourselves, from exercising our strengths and gifts. Stay home. Stay safe. Take that talent of gold and hide it under the ground. It could draw the WORST kind of attention.<\/p>\n Godin says take your turn before it\u2019s offered. That life IS the turn, for each of us, to get up and be and do and fail and get up again and try.<\/p>\n Achilles\u2019 analogy works. Shall we throw ourselves onto the field of battle? Because it\u2019s what we were born to do?<\/p>\n Shall we climb the tallest peak? Because it\u2019s there?<\/p>\n I know that\u2019s why Chris reads those books. It\u2019s a story of ultimate striving. It\u2019s easy to belittle the highest strivings in my life. My aspirations are not as dramatic as Mt. Everest.<\/p>\n And yet. That book I am getting ready to publish\u2026That business I want to start\u2026That movement I want to launch\u2026All these rise above the ordinary and lift my eyes to a higher horizon.<\/p>\n There was once, the one who first climbed Everest. He had to make his own path.\u00a0 The others followed, striving for what they felt drawn to do.<\/p>\n There is for sure and no doubt, the first and only me. And the first and only you. As this year turns into the new one, I want to try to do the big stuff.<\/p>\n Happy New Year, everybody!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My husband likes to read adventure stories. The REAL kind, about people who take crazy risks or climb Mt. Everest.\u00a0 He was re-telling one of these stories to me, and I narrowed my eyes at him. \u201cAre you saying you … Continue reading