I'm all for adventure, but...

"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The
joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is
no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have
a new and different sun." - "Alex" McCandless

Chris (Alex, which is a name he gave himself about two years before his untimely death) McCandless is the subject of the book that I am currently reading, Into the Wild. If you are unfamiliar with the book, it is the true story of how McCandless gives away most of his possessions, including $24,000 to charity, to embark on a road trip that led him to the Alaskan wilderness, where he was ill prepared and his outlook of less-is-more-against-the-man-be-one-with-nature, ultimately led to his early death.

I identify with his quote above, so much. I identify with the most of his views. When I say I get bored, I think it's an understatement. I get restless. I just want to do and see so many things, that sometimes, I think I'll explode. That's what I mean, when I say that I have chaotic energy. One of my favorite quotes by Sylvia Plath is about wanting to be a firecracker and burst into a thousand different directions as the same time, instead of being tied down. Hallelujah, Sylvia Plath!

Um, however, you aren't going to find me trekking out on an Alaskan trip with one backpack, 15 pounds of rice, and no waterproof shoes (REALLY!? Really, Mr. McCandless.) or trying to drown myself with rocks in my pockets (Ms. Plath, really?). I am all for convictions and doing what makes you happy, but I'm blessed that I have a left brain that likes to take over my somewhat impulsive right-brained self.

For all the times that I want to run off and join the circus, my left brain kicks in with list after list after list of what I'm going to wear, the fastest/cheapest way to get to said circus, not to mention a spreadsheet of alternate itineraries to do each day on my trip. This makes me lucky, very lucky.

When people talk about being more left-brained than right-brained, I know I have the best of both worlds, I can be artistic and impulsive, but I have a control-freak, number and list loving, fun squasher, that steps in and takes over at the right moments. I thank my lucky stars for that. Otherwise, someone may have already found me with my head in a gas oven or living in a nudist colony. I like my life, just the way it is, with a little adventure sprinkled in here and there and the ability to know when too much fun is TOO much fun.