Last time I was here I was rambling on, wondering about the connection between Movement and Growth, what it is that encourages us to seek out change through new locations and experiences. I don’t really think I got anywhere with those thoughts but sometimes it’s just about getting the ball rolling. Well here I am, half a world away from home, from my real home in New Hampshire as well as my adopted one in Utah, and little by little I’m starting to gain the some perspective. Perspective of my homes, my place in them, their meaning to me, their gifts and opportunities, as well as their problems and shortcomings. I won’t lie, to me, a lot of the time, the world seems like a fucked up crazy place on the cusp of bursting or burning up. But it’s hard to remove yourself from the world, especially your own, to get the perspective you need to know if this is true, or what can be done about it. Sometimes the easiest way to get a new perspective is to actually step back and walk around to the other side. Travel and perspective go hand in hand, and to sometimes all it takes is a little movement to get the perspective you need to see if things are really as bad as you think, or why, or what might be done to help.
Since I was a young man, I always thought I had a special ability to step back, to remove myself from a situation and really grasp whats going on, it’s importance or lack thereof. But as time has moved on I’ve found myself sometimes wrapped up in situations that I’ve had trouble pulling myself away from, encountering more difficulty seeing through my own beliefs and ideas to reveal the truth.
I don’t think this is necessarily an evolution as much as a practice, perspective is something gained, not given, we have to work for it as much as we do any understanding, and when that effort stagnates, so does out perspective. We speak of perspective in terms of age and angle, our perspective can be fresh, skewed, or warped. Problems don’t often change, and sometimes they only get worse, and the same can be said of people, but in order to solve problems, to improve ourselves and the world around us, quite often we need a fresh perspective, a new approach and a better understanding of the issue, and ourselves.
Often times you’ll get a new perspective when you weren’t expecting it, just by looking away for a moment, other times it takes years of staring at the same thing, or alternately years away from the issue at hand, to gain the perspective you need. I think it’s pretty universal though, that getting away from something we harp on, even if only for a moment, can offer us even the smallest dose of perspective to appreciate what we have, what we need to let go, what we’re missing, or how we can make things better.
Over the last few years, my life without an automobile has offered some interesting perspectives on mobility, adventure, our automobile culture, and my generation’s concept of recreation and experience. I’m still chewing on this perspective, because sometimes even awareness offers nothing more than another reason to be confused, but I’m grateful for the understanding that I’ve gained. But equally, stepping back into an automobile powered life, if only for a short time, offers another perspective on how difficult, contrived, and sometimes utterly pointless a bicycle life can seem. Perspectives abound, and it’s up to us to sift through the lenses and find the one that suits our vision.
More recently, I’ve been stuck with a very poor perspective of myself, and while I’ve struggled to let that go or cast it aside as my friends and family have advised, I’ve found it very difficult. Only over time, and with the help of close friends and a lot of movement, adventure, and exploration, have I begun to be somewhat successful at leaving that self-view behind and gaining a new perspective, better yet, a vision for what I could be. Because what more is a perspective than that, a vision, an idea of the way things could be, a path to make them better?
America is a fucked up place right now, that’s about all there is to it. Down here, in New Zealand, people love to ask me what I think of Trump and all the crazy violence that’s been happening. Quite honestly, I don’t really know what to say, and I tell them that. It’s just too crazy, sometimes it all just seems too surreal and unfortunate to put into words. What I do know is that America needs some perspective, we all do. We need to go for a walk, to cool down, do some push-ups and have a snack. Take a break from everything we’re working so hard for because right now it’s like we’re watching the pot, waiting for it to boil, when in reality it’s frothed over and scalded the stove already. We need to chill the fuck out, see some nature and climb a hill, see that nothing is really that important, primarily us. When we manage to gain this perspective maybe we’ll see how badly we’re really blowing it, and how easily we could put things on track to be better, easier, happier… healthier.
All it takes is some perspective really. A new way to look at the same thing. Sometimes we can shut our eyes and open them to a new view, but more often we’ve got to work a little bit for it. As a climber and a skier I’m always scrambling a little higher to get a better view, a better perspective, but without an open mind for what you’re looking at, your perspective can remain lost. Traveling offers so many benefits, and a better perspective of ourselves and the world is just one of them. But we don’t always have to go half way around the world to get a better perspective on how to improve the situation at hand, sometimes, a walk through the woods, or a night under the stars is all we need.