Complacency kills, it's a slow battle that softens us from the inside out. Complacency is the cousin of apathy, the settling attitude that "nothing can be done", "that's just the way it is." Complacency is the fruit rotting in the hot sun, the pre-cut packaged food, the quiet voice that says "don't". Because in all reality, adventure can be terrifying. It seems safer to make measured decisions, save money, and work longer days. But there is no promise of tomorrow, you can die at literally any moment.
I was was listening to a documentary last month during the heat of my finals prep, it was a movie documenting the Barkley Race- a 100 mile mega marathon held in the Appalachia every year. The filmmakers followed several men and women on their journey to finish this insanely grueling run, one which has had years with no winners to speak of. They made it a regular thing to ask each person why? Why do this? It's literally 100 miles of hell through thorns, ditches, and intense scrub. One runner was calm as could be, he looked past the camera and told the story of his life before the race. He followed his fathers footsteps of the American Dream- a nice job, comfy house, padded savings. Just like his father before him. And then suddenly his father died, one week before retirement. He'd saved up his entire life to cruise at the end but never quite made it. The guy looked at the ground and took a long pause and said, there's really no guarantees in life. You have to live on the edge because there's no promise of tomorrow.
So this week we face our fears and start our life anew in a place far from Atlanta, we rode our bikes out to the marina and stared out at the Golden Gate. We stared in silence and soaked it all up, there is no tomorrow, there is only now. As we go forward and launch our new business, of course we are excited and eternally grateful, of course we are scared, but mostly we feel free.
love,
Kyle & Sara