The Void

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." -Gen. George S. Patton

My first orienteering race of the weekend was yesterday evening - General Patton would’ve been proud.

It was held in was a typical city park, open and runnable - so my strategy was a crude one, take rough bearings and run like hell. Long story short, it was a little too simplistic and didn’t work out perfectly. Brute force rarely works in orienteering (I should know this by now). My bearings were sloppy and I made some silly mistakes. The most notable was smiling for a photo, then running off in the wrong direction. That’s the last time I smile for a photo. Ever. ;-)

Immediately after the race, various tactics I should’ve used became apparent - using fences as guides, or slowing down when the controls were close together. This is always the case, which further emphasizes General Patton’s point that no plan is ever perfectly executed. Sometimes you just need to do it and figure out the finer details as you go. (“No plan survives contact with the enemy”- Moltke the Elder).

This does not come naturally to me.

Before starting anything - I like to have a pretty solid idea of what I’m going to do and how I’m going to do it. Life is chaotic, and the impulse is to control as many variables as possible. Common wisdom would dictate those without a plan will fail spectacularly. I think as we get older, after experiencing pain, disappointment and failure first hand - this becomes more ingrained. Naturally, we want to avoid it because it sucks. This is added to by observing our friends, family and others. Eventually, we have a pretty large experience base and a lot of reasons not to do things. Obviously, for inherently risky behaviour, this is advantageous - however, left unchecked, it can turn from an advantage to an impediment.

Talking with people, I’ve found what I am doing is polarizing. Either people love the idea, or don’t.

I understand why people don’t like it - generally, there is a pretty rational reason. However, those who do usually say something like, “I’ve always wanted to do something like this…”.  I think it’s also the desire to live through someone to see if they succeed or fail...sort of like telling someone to “just do it” and jump, despite being apprehensive about doing it yourself.

Tired clichés like ‘Carpe Diem’, ‘YOLO’ and ‘Follow your dreams’ exist because that is how people want to live…most people want to take full advantage of their lives and try to experience new and exciting things. However, there is inevitably a barrier between us and our dreams. Financial realities aside, even with achievable desires, generally there are commitments we must fulfil or feel we are obligated to. Remove those commitments and you’ll find there are still reasons not to go…and as you strip away reasons, you find right at the bottom is plain reluctance to dive into something new.

People have a set image of who they are, where they belong and how their life should unfold. It’s very hard to let go. It’s very easy to advise someone to take that leap but taking it yourself is hard.

I see this all the time when I describe orienteering to people and suggest they take the leap and try it. “That’s sounds great! I think I’d like that”…I rarely ever see anyone actually follow through. I assume some people are genuine and not just humouring me. So why don’t they come out? Barriers to trying orienteering are pretty few - it’s cheap, one afternoon and universally enjoyable. More barriers go up, the bigger the unknown/lifestyle change.

It’s very difficult to be open to trying completely new things. I am the worst at it - stubborn as hell - I rarely regret it though. It’s very easy to say “I’m not that type of person” or “I wouldn’t like that” before even trying something. A few years ago, after watching the movie “Yes Man”, I tried saying yes to everything. Notably, I ended up trying knitting and working at a Suicide Crisis Call Center - things I would never have tried otherwise. Neither activity really stuck - but at least now I have those experiences.

Living out of a van isn’t dangerous, it’s easily reversible and isn’t unique - the only barrier was finding a suitable vehicle - but it is a pretty big lifestyle change, and there are things that are unknown. For example, what do I say if someone calls the cops? Where do I shower? Will I like it?...etc.
While searching for a van, my plan set in motion - I found myself teetering on the edge, looking down into a murky void. Behind me was the safe and known - it was really tempting, especially after the search was losing its excitement, to crawl back into the safety of my routine...to find a place in Victoria and settle in.

While working at MEC, I encountered a lot of adventurers. I always enjoyed talking to the cyclists doing long tours. Cross country, down the coast and even one dude cycling from Alaska to Patagonia. I found myself saying “I’d love to do that” and trying to live vicariously through them…to escape my tedious job of describing the differences between cheap, Chinese-made, cycling lights.

One customer summed it up nicely: “you have to make it a priority or you will never do it”. This stuck with me. Make it a priority.