Friday was a great day for me as an artist. I made my first signed painting which turned out to be an incredibly fun albeit extremely messy experience (I still have green oil paint on my hands). I wrote little notes and left them along the bike trail while we walked along sharing our childhood dreams. I even cried with laughter at the dreams we have but may never accomplish- Sam shared that he’d always wanted to do a standing back-flip, and if you know him, you know he’s tall enough that it’ll probably never happen. But the fact that he cares so much is beautiful, and maybe he’ll prove me wrong.
Most of all, I found some words that I think describe the passion I’ve had ever since I can remember. I want to cover the world with dreams and leave behind a space for people to make them in. I want to share myself with people and exude an environment of creativity, optimism and possibility so inviting that people can’t help but to add to it and make it their own.
It’s amazing how many dreams we suppress, and how easily we can forget about them as we go about our habitual life. I’m pretty sure I personally hold the tension of dreams I’ve given up on in my shoulders, which were super tight until Friday when I spent a good three hours just stretching them out.
If you know my story, you know I’ve dislocated each of my shoulders three times trying to go all out and pushing myself to the limits. (OK, most of the times were like that, one or two may have just been drunken mistakes…) I feel like these dislocations kind of correlate with the attempts I’ve made in the past at being successful.
I think I’ve ignored many warning signs that what I’m trying to do isn’t really what I want, but I don’t like giving up so I force myself to go through with it anyway. And I’m not prepared so it ends up breaking me. This stubbornness has left me with two injured shoulders and a handful of scattered prototypes that’ll probably never see the light of day. Still, at least it’s given me the lessons to know to change.
Over the last few days I’d started feeling the stress of work again. Much as I like to think I can control this trip, I can’t; the bus and the idea and the people we meet are driving this venture whether I like it or not. So I’m working on letting my dreams out rather than trying to force this trip to go one way or another. I suppose that is what I asked for from the start with this thing… funny how that works.
Anyway, we’re headed to Ely, MN to talk to some famous arctic explorers and meet our sponsors at Steger Mukluk. I’m excited to get exploring tips from some masters of geographical exploration… I feel like they must transfer over to our cultural adventure. Cheers from the road, Mike.