The Adventure That Happened, Or Not?

I was driving toward the expressway junction ramps for interstate 80 and a thought occurred to me, “Hey, it’s my day off.  The weather is beautiful.  Maybe I should get on I-80 west and drive out to Starved Rock.”

It was a silly impulse.  I wasn’t planning to go to Starved Rock.  It was impractical.  I hadn’t told anyone I was going to Starved Rock.  But there was a part of me that thought, “Why not?”

But then the internal conversation began.

“That’s almost 2 hours from here.  You’re just going to drive there, right now, at 1o’clock in the afternoon?  Simply because the weather is nice?  That’s not a responsible thing to do,” thought the Safe-Predictable Me.

“Sometimes you need to do something, unpredictable and impulsive.  That’s part of living a great life,” countered the Go-For-It Me.

Safe-Predictable Me said, “What are you going to do, just call Nadia and say, ‘I’m on my way to Starved Rock?’  She’ll think you’re being ridiculous.”

“She won’t mind,” said Go-For-It Me.  “It’s your day off.  She would encourage you to do it.”

“I have some other things to do today, when I get back home,” Safe-Predictable Me said in a very convincing “stop-being-irresponsible”  tone of voice.

“None of what has to be done is an emergency.  It can all wait,” said Go-For-It Me.

This entire internal conversation happened in the course of a few seconds, in my mind, and as I came to the freeway ramps I found myself getting on I-80 eastbound.  In other words, I was heading home, not toward Starved Rock.

I’m writing this down now because I felt like I needed to remind myself—as well as share with you—that, sadly, when I got on that eastbound ramp I violated one of my own general life rules which is:  If you’re looking at a choice that involves doing something adventurous and not doing something adventurous, make the adventurous choice!

Oh, I know there will be exceptions to this general life rule.  There are always exceptions.  There will be times when making the adventurous choice really won’t be the wise thing.  But life is meant to be lived—that’s part of why God created us.  (I know that’s an incredibly clichéd thought, but it’s still true, anyhow.)

I got home and got some of those things done—you know, those things that I had to get home and do?—but I feel badly.  I didn’t choose well.  Oh, I know, it’s not likely that I missed out on one of the most thrilling adventures imaginable, but it’s the principle:  What happened today represents one of the ways that time passes and we look back with regret at a life that was only partially lived.

Note to self:  Choose the adventure.  (And be a bit more skeptical when listening to Safe-Predictable Me.)