A while back I designed a logo for MangoCoinz, maybe you've heard of it, don't know if it still excists. Not by bounty, just for the fun of it, sometimes that actually leads to something usefull. Just came about it when I was looking for some photograph to use for this post. Actually, it then changed the subject of my innitial one. The credo I had in mind back then was: "Picking the fruit of your own effort!" And that somehow fitted Steem(It) years later. As I saw blogging on the blockchain for payout as a Fruit Of Work, or FOW, system. And so I guess nothing is ever worthless, or useless, it is all worth the time and energy, someday.
design cc-by-sa @oaldamster
Never heard from the MangoCoinz team, got no response what so ever. But I was not expecting any either. Sometimes that is the best thing to do. Just be, do what you enjoy to do, life will give you it's challenges anyway. And it took me quite a few years myself to understand this and really integrate it into my system. It's not perfect, still have to deal with the challenges that life throws at me, but I can live to my fullest in the 'here and now'. Yes, there are still things I feel that are hard to deal with, but it doesn't chain me in like it has done many years ago. There are many things I cannot do anymore, but I tend to focus on what I can do. Not always perfect, it is a constant learning proces all the way, falling flat on my face, now and then, and getting back up again.
It is the ride itself that gives the thrill
Many eons ago (hahaha well it sometimes does feel like that), I went to a town called Assen by skeelers. It is about 45 kilometers (28 miles, give or take). Total trip, the double figure. Allready mentioned this in a former post at SteemIt, so I will not repeat myself too much here to keep the bots out off my hair. That ride had a goal, had set my mind to that long before I actually did it. Did not talk about it with other people, only my own family at home knew I had this in my mind. And then one saturday morning I decided that it was to be. Beautifull sunny weather, almost no wind. Told my loved ones at home and left. It was the ride of my life, I did enjoy it intensly, feeling so alive, in the here and now.
The last 15 KM to Assen felt like I was flying, overtaking people out on their bicycles, greeting them while I did. What a blast I had! Did you ever have that feeling of being 'high on life', well that's what it feels like. It must have been like I was smiling all the way, with mosquitoes getting stuck between my teeth. And then there was Assen, I finally made it. At first I felt some kind of euforia, but shortly after that I had this feeling like: "Okay and what now?" The innitial plan was more or less to return by train. But while I was slowly skeelering towards the center of Assen it felt kind of not right, I got here on my own will, so why go back to Winschoten by train? And there was still enough adrenaline going through my vains to want more of that.
So I turned round I made the decission to go for a different route, one I had not planned or looked up on. It was adventurous, got me crashed and well it took quite a while to get back home. But, the thing that mainly counted for me was that I was glad to be back home and that I had an awesome 'high on life' day. Back in the future of the here and now I have not been able to skeeler like that since then. And I could moan, long for the days long gone, or I can enjoy the memory and smile. Everything changes, that I know for sure. Never knew upfront that I would be able to pull that kind of thing off. Had my health challenges, never thought I would be able to excell myself like that. And the best thing was not even that, the best thing was the experience while I was doing it. It was the ride itself.
It is not the length of the travel, it is the experience
Going on longer trips by skeelers are in the past. Can not even imagine me doing that ever again. My bicycle became a kind of replacement for that, but mostly I just move about in a way that I know is good to keep me going. Like walking at the end of the day for about 6 kilometers. Sometimes joined by good friends. But even when I walk on my own, I still enjoy the path I'm taking. It changes slowly, just like the rythm of daylight and nighttime. With it the year and nature that is in sync with that. Sometimes meeting an animal in the wild, like a fox or a deer. Being outdoors, experiencing life. And even though I mostly walk the same paths, it never is getting boring. Only a few times a year I don't feel like walking and then I just simply don't. Because I do it because I want to, from out off my own free will.
It is not the goal to do exactly 6 kilometers and that within an hour, or so. Then I would be only busy with that in a kind of competition. And that, for me, would take me out off the experience, that I want to have.
Last saturday I came to understand that even more when I went on an extensive bicycle trip to Grolloo, nearby Assen. My body was not really up to it, but the weather was nice and I had my mind set to it. And allthough it took me quite a while to get there, I still enjoyed every minute of it. That was until I had reached my goal, and took a break at Hofsteenge's in Grolloo, also known as Blues Village. And it wasn't until I got back on my bicycle again that it began to feel right again. Cycling through the woods, enjoying nature, becoming aware of something that translates like 'the Houndsback' in the landscape, by taking an alternative route. It is all about experiencing the path. Allthough again, I was glad to be back home.
And while we have the strangest kind of weather
In Nederland we have a crazy summer going on currently. And I'm loving it, extra warm sunny days, even with autumn being close by. Seems to worry some too, but I think it is just a shift in the natural order of things. Just like we once had the ice-age and the little ice-age. Not even that long ago, because what's 400 years on eon scale? And I know that when I only would be a human that was going for the 'endgoal', then that would render my life meaningless. Because, as far as I know, this current life, in this realm, will end. Therefore it must be something else that is the meaning of life, or that what gives meaning to life, and that is the road called living in the here and now.
At least, that is how I started to perceive it. And this does not take my personal challenges away. This does not mean I do not grief, that is something I can and will not change. It just means I take life the way it is, a second at a time. And I enjoy it when and where I can.
Light, live, love, life
Have a good one!
photo cc-by-sa @oaldamster, Part of my path