And so we come to the last day of 2018. Wow. This past year has been one of many changes (some good, some less so). In January I posted a quote from Hugh Laurie called No Such Thing as Ready, in which I complained about being in a rut. And then I proceeded to launch myself out of that rut by moving across the country at the end of May. In August, I lost my mom, which is a hurt so deep I still haven’t been able to bring myself to write about it. (I will, but not yet.) And now here we are, at the end of December.
Anyway, my point is this: 2018 was a unique year, in ways both good and bad. And the thing that keeps echoing through my mind is this quote:
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
But what the heck does that actually mean for those of us who are just average joes and joannes? To answer that question, I scoured the internet, source of all wisdom, and here’s what I came up with:
To read the history of this quote, check out this link to Quote Investigator.
Adventure is “a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.” As the word developed, it originally meant “chance, accident, occurrence, event, happening,” and later came to mean “perilous undertaking” and “novel or exciting incident, remarkable occurrence in one’s life.”
Daring is “adventurous courage; boldness.” Its root word, dare, can be traced back to “courageous,” and later had the connotation of “to challenge or defy (someone), provoke to action.”
(Sources: Dictionary.com and Etymonline.com)
So how does all of that scholarly internet searching and summarization add up? Essentially (I guess) it means this: We either defy our own fears and preconceptions, go out and undertake some perilousness, or… well… or we don’t. And that will mean different things for each of us. Certainly, we all have our own concept of what constitutes peril, and that concept will change for us during the course of our lifetimes.
For my part, I am trying to find balance between the east and west coasts, a search which mirrors the need for balance between security and adventure. I am still feeling out my place in the world. Maybe you are, too.
My wish for both of us in 2019 is that we continue to seek out new adventures, and summon the daring to meet whatever comes next. Shall we hold hands as we start? Okay, deep breath.
Ready?
And here… we… go…!
♥♥♥
Beautifully written and a beautiful sentiment. You did it!!!! You are bi-coastal….you followed your dream. <3
Thank you so much! Hugs to you. I’m so glad we are friends.
Misha,
My deepest and most heartfelt love goes out to you at this time. I had no idea your Mother passed.
Thank you so much, Nancy. Big hugs.
Hi Misha, I do read your blogs even though I do not always comment. When my mother passed away (one month before she would have turned 91), it took me six months at least to recover from it. And she was buried three days before a niece’s marriage and my departure to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire for 4 months on a consulting assignment she had been worrying about. I still feel guilty about that decision, but life has to go on. All best, John
Hi John, I’m sorry I didn’t reply earlier. Thank you so much for your kind words and for sharing your story about your mom. There is so much in life that we can’t predict; we can only do what we can do. And like you said, life goes on (whether we’re ready for it or not). ❤ Thanks again.