Epic

I was laying in bed the other day waiting for someone to come help me get up and start my day. As I lay there a little uncomfortable as I usually am I was thinking about all the times I intentionally put myself into uncomfortable situations. I spend most of the day somewhat uncomfortable, mostly just irritations mind you, itches I can't scratch, a hair in my eye, insane amounts of saliva I occasionally choke on. It wears on you though, through the sheer relentlessness. It's funny because looking back some of my fondest memories are of times I put myself in much more intense discomfort.  Things like insane bike rides, backpack trips and the like.

Last week I had to go to San Francisco twice for two different doctor appointments. Both days it was quite windy and there were kite surfers near the Golden Gate Bridge. I couldn't help but envy them a little. Envy their freedom of movement, all the sensations, wind, waves, the cold Northern California ocean. They looked so smooth and peaceful from a distance but I  know up close they were all pushing their physical limits and that is something I can relate to.

I've done a great many things in my life that I would call "epic", I think more than most people living comfortable lives in modern societies. I have very few regrets in what I've done in my time here. The one thing that has been stuck in my head since seeing the kite surfers is I wish I had been even more epic. Had more time to be epic. Being epic doesn't have to mean risk to life and limb necessarily, I've been a parent almost half my life now after all, but it probably means discomfort. That is my advice to you, gentle reader, take it from a man facing his own mortality: go big. Try to do something that makes you uncomfortable every day. Go for a bike ride on a morning when it's 25 degrees out. Take up surfing at 40. Change careers even if you're "successful" if you're not happy doing it. Tell that girl you have a crush on her. Do things that scare you, that might be ill advised, that your mom might not approve of. Don't be reckless or harmful but do go big. The regret of not having tried something you wish you had is almost always way worse than the regret of trying and failing. Road rash and bruised egos heal, missed opportunities do not.

I will leave you with this thought. Everyone has it in them to do something epic. Even me in my current state. Every time I write it makes me nervous hitting the "publish" button but I'm always glad I did. Comfort is a good thing but being uncomfortable is way underrated.