Where is your edge?
Randomly scanning the Facebook site I saw some photos that a guy I met in Mozambique had posted. He was travelling in Cambodia and there were pictures of him in temples and markets. One was with him, a huge snake around his shoulder and an even bigger smile. I commented on how happy he looked, livin’ on the edge.
Just minutes after he wrote me back saying how great it was to hear from me, hoping I will still smiling big.
Where is your edge at the moment? he asked.
At THAT moment I had come back late from work, so tired I had fallen asleep on my lunch break, was contemplating going to the gym but instead had found myself in front of the computer with a bowl of Ben & Jerry’s New York Fudge Chunk ice cream.
Yeah, where was my edge?
This guy knew me as the kind of girl that skinny dips at 5 o’clock in the morning and jumps off the highest bridge bungee jump in the world. A girl that would never turn down a good party even if she was wearing the same smelly t-shirt from the night before. A girl who suggests you go for a hike instead of a coffee and someone who will encourage you to pursue your dreams no matter how distant they may seem.
The wild girl in me is still alive although she might be resting a little bit. But why? Just because my edge is not a 216 meter bridge doesn’t mean there are not limits to cross in order to grow.
The everyday challenges come in disguise and only you can know what they are.
It could be catching yourself just before you make a negative remark.
It could be running that extra mile to prove to yourself you can do it.
It could be applying for the job that you have put in a frame of dream scenarios, that you keep looking at from a distance, but never go towards.
Or in my case, it could be grabbing my training bag and head off to the gym, even one hour before closing time.
I could run that extra mile (hey it’s only 1,6 kilometer) and make it cross the edge of laziness.
All it takes is one first step, many times in a row.
that’s the beauty of internet communities such as facebook i guess. i tend to look at my pictures from time to time and remember all the crazy nights at the student pub. and like you say, sometimes it feels like the edge is gone. just a couple of years ago i could i could party wednesday, friday and saturday and still be alive sunday. now, a totally different story. maybe i’m just getting old… 😉
The edge definitely moves with time/age…but it is still in relation to ourself and our courage I guess…so what may seem wild to someone might not be so crazy to someone else AND the contrary, what may seem ordinary, in perspective can be a giant personal achievement.
The pictures, the reminders, are our own reference points.
don’t get me wrong, i don’t miss the times of crazy partying, or i kind of do, but is a part of my life that i’m done with. now get my thrills in other places, like singing while playing guitar. alone. in the dark. haha. or just hanging out with friends and doing stuff. and making new friends.
but yeah, it’s great to have those pictures, digital or non-digital to remind you of who you are and who you were, and where you’ve been. and maybe even where you’re going.
I do understand what you’re saying. That being sad, partying every night gets old too. I consider myself a free spirit, but drifting aimlessly without goals, without direction and without dreams is just not my cup of tea.
I don’t think you lost your edge, Helen.
Thanks Agnes!! I don’t think I have either…;) It’s all there still. I think there are many ways of interpreting this post and I love getting your comments and reflection of my thoughts!
Take care till next time!
Take one step, breathe, repeat.
Take one step, breathe, repeat.
That is what I think of when I read this; our edge may indeed be, a series of small steps that add up to one heck of a journey, no, ADVENTURE!!!!
Send me a FB friend request if you like!!!! Vanessa Leigh White. Hugs!!
Step, breathe, repeat…love it! 🙂
Sounds to me like your “edge” is as sharp as ever. Just not used as much as in previous times. Maybe saving it for more worthwhile endeavors, like that one heck of a journey mentioned by Vanessa.
Oops. that’s right, the next great “ADVENTURE.”
michael j
That might just be it. Thanks Michael!
Aw man are you sure you’re not older? You are wiser for sure. The edge has little to do w/cliffs and rock walls. I guess those are momentary edges. Living where you are and growing as you do so? That’s edgy stuff…because it take awareness and thought and heart and all that other messy stuff.
This was great…
“Awareness, thought and heart” Yeah I do have that and yes, I am growing, and living and I know all this, and I embrace it. I guess I am wise enough to trust my intuition but young/naive enough to believe it will always lead to good.
Thank you so much for your unwavering support!!
Big hug.