When doing something is normal to you, you’re not likely to question why, until you realize that it isn’t for most people.
All of my life, I’ve been able to accomplish physical acts that most can’t aspire to because their bodies simply weren’t up for it, like:
– learning how to parallel downhill ski at 5 years of age,
– running up the side of a huge redwood tree at the ripe old age of 6 to grab the stub of its lowest branch 20 feet off the ground,
– balancing all over jungle-gyms of all shapes and configurations at the age of seven (only one memorable fall),
– passing between hanging ropes, like Tarzan, at eight in my elementary gym class,
– carrying all my own food, water, and gear on week-long Sierra backpacking trips at ten years of age,
– bicycle-climbing steep mountain roads at eleven (the going down was the hard part, though thrilling!),
– thru-hiking the PCT, Mexico to Canada, for 5.5 months at 17 while it was still just an imagined “route,”
– bicycle-camping 5,000 miles through Europe for four months (solo) at 22, and
– thru-hiking half of the CDT before it existed at 23.
I didn’t think about it. I just did stuff, to find out, later, it was out of the ordinary, unusual, and not normal.
I’m sure the famous, Jack LaLanne, would have said, “If your body is ready for the demands of the feat, give it a try!”
I’ve always possessed a youthful vigor that fueled such, often, blind dreams and enabled them to come to pass. That fire in me hasn’t dimmed over my 67 years – though the medical/pharmacological industry is still trying to convince me I’ve got one foot in the grave and need to be on medication (despite no major injuries or illnesses).
Why should we stop dreaming and succumb to the powers of suggestion, while we are, yet, still able?
Why can’t an aging body be maintained in a sufficient state of fitness while the spirit soars, if both are still able?
Today, I pulled out of storage my old friend of 44 years, tuned it up, got back on the saddle, and started writing a new song!
If you can, go for it!