By Jack Few.
‘Just because you’re curious doesn’t mean that you’re going to do something that’s valid, but it does motivate you to go out and start looking and trying. We’re all running curious, because in that lies the roots of creation’ - North Face
In my zest for adventure I agreed to turn my back on a lot of structural qualities that framed my current life, turn my back on security, comfort, good money, from the arms of assured career success, from predictability, from a life that could've easily been drawn out beyond me in a rigid, horizontal line. Instead I would trade it all in for simplicity, adventure, perspective and impracticality.
I just didn’t see the appeal of working like a mule all week, and getting drunk on the weekend as making the most out of my time. I wanted to bring back that childlike enthusiasm and curiosity back into my life.
When someone is curious there’s often a level of ignorance involved. Being curious will lead you into unknown territory and provide a chance to explore something new, to learn and to grow in strength, experience and wisdom. I would tell people of my plans to cycle the length of India. Many would be buzzing with excitement for me and of course some would ask, ‘Isn’t it dangerous? Where would you sleep? What will you eat? I would always respond naively by remarking that I’ll have a tent and I’ll sleep anywhere that I could, on the side of the road or in field, that I have no idea where or what I’ll eat but I’ll eat whatever’s available and deal with any danger in the moment. Some people looked at me with pity on their faces. There’s definitely a stubbornness in curiosity and likewise in whatever I do, if someone says something too hard or too dangerous, it simply evokes in me a need to do it more, to prove them wrong and to prove myself that I can and not to be discouraged by other people's limitations.
Where there’s negativity and doubtfulness around you in whatever you do, there’s always an opportunity to turn it into positive challenge, a character building adventure to be attacked with confidence and enthusiasm.
The crux it seems of curiosity is that we are never satisfied, that once we get a taste for that exciting world outside the borders of our comfort and knowing, then we get hooked, and the feeling multiplies. Something greater than mere success is created, we shift our ignorance, we enrich our lazy minds, and feed on the milk of self-discovery. I thought maybe this long, testing journey would satisfy the constant squeeze of curiosity I was experiencing, would simmer it down to a gentle bubble.
In reality I did the opposite, now the heat has been turned up and waters of adventure-tinged inquiry are over spilling. Now, every map I look at becomes a blueprint plot for an exciting new story, I imagine myself in far-flung places across the globe, I point at random and think to myself what would it be like there, what stories would I have from cycling or walking through that country, or that mountain range or that incredibly long coastline. Extreme distances become playful thoughts to juggle with, what would it be like to walk the length of Russia, cycle the length of Africa or kayak around the Greenland? My whole attitude becomes stimulated with provocative quests and new experiences. Curiosity doesn’t just rest in the search for hardcore global exploration, it spills over into the mind of an individual. Curiosity is an attitude.’
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