Setting Moon over the West Desert
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain
Looking back over the last 20 years of my life I can see many times where I threw off the bowlines and sailed away from safe harbor. I went exploring, I dreamed and discovered. I’ve been back and forth across the country more times than I can count plus seen new countries and explored each place I visited with the curiosity of a child.
Because I explored, dreamed and discovered I found my passion for bird photography. I started off photographing the scenery of those new vistas which graduated to taking images of flowers and insects before my bird photography addiction set in.
Explore. Dream. Discover. Then repeat again.
Life is good.
Mia
Thank you for the inspiration!
Memories are infinitely more precious than almost anything else. Live is indeed for living. We can have a life – or an existence. Life costs more (literally and metaphorically) and is worth more too.
Mia, Roger–I’ve been to all those places, too–and more….in my dreams! And I’m still going……my dream was always to travel from country to country, but of all those in my family who wanted it most, I did the least…am grateful for what I did get to see…but still hunger for more……
Yep…I’m with you! Never made any money over my 66+ years but sure had a rich life full of discoveries. Glad I never took the “9-5/steadyjob/3kids” route
just had a friend share a video via Omeleto on the same theme:
http://m.omeleto.com/224204/
perfect! Thanks for the reminder !!!
That concept had definitely been my guiding light for the last several years. I have found the best life as a nomad with few possessions. But I’m rich in adventures, beauty, and friends old and new. And I feel I’m helping to save wildlife, and indeed a place where humans can continue to live.
Good advice. Well said. Its not the destination. Its the trip that counts. Documenting it in pictures is a big plus.
I agree! Well said….
Well said Mia, and a very valuable reminder to all of us to take advantage of every opportunity to experience
the great variety of opportunities available to us. Sitting in front of a TV, or in front of a computer, “surfing the
web,” is hardly living. I’ve crossed the great plain 57 times in my 82 years, been in every state in the lower 48,
several times, across Canada from east to west, and back again, down the Alcan Highway, spent months in
Muir Inlet, in Glacier Bay, Alaska, and more months on the Alaskan Tundra south of Barrow. I’ve been from
Casablanca in Morocco to Johannesburg in South Africa, with stop offs for weeks on 2 safaris in Kenya, and
Tanzania. I’ve slept in a tent on the plains of Africa with lions roaring just outside, and had herds of elephants
walk through camp at night. I’ve climbed on the slope of Mt Kilimanjaro, when there was still snow on her
crown… and a whole bunch more, and I have no regrets about the time, effort, or funds I spent doing these
things, and more. However, I do regret that there were still opportunities that I missed. So, like Mia, I say to
all of you who might read these words, put down that TV remote, get off your “tutus,” grab your camera, and
get out into the field, where ever you are, and LIVE!!! Build memories, and images. Both are priceless in
your old age… Sorry for my “ramblings,” but I think it’s important to be “passionate” about something….
A great banner to live under. Headed to Patagonia in February!
Mia – it took me till I finally reached 60 years of age before I had the real courage to cast off and begin a life of discovery. I am now at break neck speed and enjoying every voyage into the new and unknown. Just returned from my most current trip of three weeks in Alaska. Next stop Arizona in August…