... or one that induces nail biting, 3am panic attacks, frenzied dusting, 3pm tv watching and other weirdnesses. Am I right ladies?
It's midday, March 10, the sun is shining, the birds are well out of the midday sun and while all looks well in the world in general, there are billions of us everywhere living out every possible subtle tiny fillament of reality between the daring and the downright dreary. Even the ones who seem to be the most daringest, adventury, brave and marvellous may very well secretly still be in their pyjamas. They may, in fact, be wishing for a bit more peace and quiet. Or for a real job.
Meanwhile, those who see themselves as lacking lustre in the adventure department may have been up since 6am, bravely suited up for a day in The World, (or bravely guiding baby through a different but no less gruelling version of The World). They are set to face the swashbuckling dramas of peak hour, the Wiggles on repeat for four hours, high level meetings in which nearly everybody is speaking their own version of Dutch, the zen challenge of the supermarket tantrum or the impossible bank queue, the coffee crash, the sugar freak out... it goes on and on, does it not? The adventure of life.
My theory, being still in my pyjamas myself, and thusly able to comment from a position still a little outside the goings on of this lovely day, is that while I totally dig Helen Keller and everything, she's a tiny bit out of whack when she says life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. What I'm thinking is that life is a daring adventure. Full stop! Even in pyjamas.
I mean, have a think about your own. Have you not survived challenges, doubts, fears, heart break, misery and hair brained ideas? Have you not bravely trudged the midnight alleys of I Don't Know How the Heck I Got Here? Have you not dangled from the Abyss of Grief and Wretchedness? Have you not ridden the wild rivers of "Wow! It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time"? Have you not pulled yourself up by one fingernail from the Cliffs of Falling for the Wrong Guy? Have you not riden the briddling mare into the stadium of Check me Out! I was just Totally Amazing! Of course you have. We all have. It's just that about 97% of the rest of the time we've somehow managed to think that it's Other People that have adventures - while we just have to put up with the boring wet-parted, buttoned down, rubbish-out-on-time cousin of that fabulous reality: life.
Believe me, the so-called 'adventury type' are not living a life that is actually all that dissimilar to yours. They pay phone bills. They mow the lawns (sometimes even without a cape), they drive the same road to work most days, get miffed when they're out of milk, wish they had better hair. The 'adventury type' would like to have a nicer sofa, dies a million deaths when they discover they have smudged mascara and gets jealous of 'less adventury types' who have fewer fine lines and know more glamourous places to eat, drink and meet men who aren't freaked out, overwhelmed, jealous or revolted by their exploits. The 'adventury type' love staying home and watching a DVD when it's raining (even if their answering machine says they've gone canyoning), and gets anxious whether 'things' are going to all work out in the end.
That's my message, for what it's worth, from the helm of another Great Girls on Top adventure this year. I reckon it can be said (though some people would argue it) that I could hitch my mule to the 'adventury type' category (even though I have a passion for laundry and sleeping in) .. and I want to tell you that it is not a club that only certain people can join.
Each year I take at least two massive and challenging, inspiring and death-defying adventures with Girls on Top - the first is getting the whole baby grown and born, and the second is our four week expedition over one of the toughest, most beautiful, demanding high alttiude treks in the world and onto the Amazon. The rewards are not always what we expect: thrilling views of the world's most remote, untouched, majestic and mystical places - yes; rare insights and experiences with ancient cultures and people - yes; the self esteem and passion of making it through an 11-day, 200km expedition over ice, mud, snow, summits, pastures and lakes - sure; market shopping amid the flowers, chickens, beads, fabrics, brass bands and mayhem of a passionate Andean community - yep; flying over the awesome Amazon jungle and watching the world's mightiest river snaking through a jaw-dropping wilderness - ah ha; holding baby monkeys, feeding pink dolphins, nursing baby sloths and meeting the wildlife experts and conservationists who want to change our world into one where all creatures thrive in safety and harmony - yep; but the real rewards, as I have seen it over these five years on expedition with all-girl teams in the world's most wonderful places - are made of other stuff.
What kind of 'stuff'? What 'stuff'? I hope that's what I encourage you to ask. And I invite you to join our little blog world here to read and watch and listen and join in as the 08 team of Girls on Top set out to find out. The blog is the real life diary of what real life is all about in the context of adventure. Remember we are ALL just girls like you - or your sister, mother, aunt, wife, girlfriend, boss or (ok, we admit it) stranger you just haven't had the guts to ask out yet... who have decided this year to be a little more daring than usual, and to find out what happens when we are.
Write to us and share your ideas about things... encourage us, tell us about your own 'stuff' and follow us online.... Girls on Top have five months of getting ready, getting motivated, and getting on top to sort out before we head to Peru in August. In that time each one of us has a fund raising mission to complete, a level of fitness to achieve, and a whole lot of hopes, fears, passions, doubts and shopping to do. Imagine if it was you! If you really knew you would be trekking to 5000metres in the remote Andes in just five months and had to raise at least $3,000 to do it. How would you feel - really. What does adventure mean to you really? And what would you be prepared - I mean really prepared - to give up for it? It should be fun at times - check in when you can ; )
Jade