To follow your dreams……what dreams?

Doing a head stand on top of Spantik (7025m), Pakistan

I recently had a nice conversation with a friend about following ones dreams. Ever since I was 18 and my mother gave me a poem called ‘If I had my life to live over’ (see below) by Nadine Starr, 85 years, I have been afraid of loosing out on any possibility(I have read that this is not the original author, but in lack of another name it is still the poem by Nadine Starr to me). I have not waited for possibilities, I have created as many as I could along the way. My dreams were all about traveling, exploring, learning languages, doing a masters degree with field work abroad, working within Aid and Development, skydiving, base jumping, climbing, expeditions etc, in short everything adventurous. But another dream I had since I was a little girl was getting married and having two kids.

Living your dream is often thought of as doing the unconventional extreme stuff, but to me a dream is not defined by how radical it is, but rather what it means to you. I have met people along the way who have dared to quit jobs, start a new education, or get out of a bad relationship. I have also met people who have stayed in the same job their whole life, married early, and in general lived a square lifes. This can be just as much living the dream as a ski bum or an extreme base jumper traveling the world in search of the perfect moment. To live your dream you need to be true to yourself. People who are living their dream gain my respect as it can take a lot of courage to do so. Here is the poem that made me realize that the moment was there to be taken advantage of, and not let slip away:

If I had my life to live over

“If I had my life to live over, I’d try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I’d be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would be less hygienic. I would take more chances. I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I would burn more gasoline. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I’m one of those people who lives sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments and if I had my life to live over, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day. I’ve been one of those people who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a rain coat and a parachute. If I had my life to live over, I’d go places and do things and travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over I would start barefoot earlier in the spring & stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I wouldn’t make such good grades, except by accident. I’d ride more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daisies.”

Nadine Starr

 

Below is a random selection of old pic’s

Base jumping in Kenya whilst interning at the UN

Happy after a swim in the river somewhere in Kashmir

The slum area where I did my field work for my master thesis in Caracas, Venezuela

Base jumping in Norway

Base jumping off Angel Falls, Venezuela

Traveling the world as a model

In Baffin Island with fellow base jumper Livia Dickie heading up the mountain.

Celebrating the first birthday of our son