It was a miserable morning. The city was clouded over by a dome of shadowless light and glooming grey. Streets were still wet from the early morning rain and an unwelcomed dampness was lingering in the air.
I was sitting in a cafe, gazing out from the window onto the busy street in King’s Cross. Everyone was rushing and the street was overwhelmed with black - black coat, shoes and umbrellas. Everywhere an expression of monochromatic melancholy.
As the clock strikes 10, I picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Hello, is that Alex?" A crisp and cheerful voice emanated from the other end. He must be lying on a sunny beach somewhere, I thought to myself.
With Dave, any guess you can have on his whereabouts will not seem absurd. Two weeks ago, he was in Scandinavia, completing his 1,000 miles Hoblie kayaking expedition from Oslo to Helsinki. The journey took 45 days and around 1,092,900 peddle push.
That was his 11th journey as part of his Expedition1,000, a plan to undertake 25 separate journeys of 1000 miles or more, each using a different form of non-motorised transport.
Previous expeditions included paddling the Mississippi,skateboarding across Australia, swimming along the Missouri river in South Dakota, sailing across the eastern Pacific on a ocean-going scientific yacht and riding across South America on a Whike (a three wheeled recumbent pedal trike with a sail) amongst others.
It is very hard toimagine that this intrepid adventurer used to be one of us. At 23, Dave had a stable job in graphic design, a house in London, a girlfriend and even a cat.
He was not fond of his work, but nor did he dislike it. He spent his evening drinking at pubs and weekends playing video games. He went on holidays twice a year and forgot all about it a month later.
Sounds familiar? For many of us, this is still our story. But for Dave, everything has changed. He carries out adventures all over theworld, encountering sceneries that most of us would die to see. He wakes up at different place every week and has long and deep conversation with strangers under the glittering stars. He writes about his expeditions in a mobile office, which may well turns out to be a bar on a palm beach. He makes inspiring short films for thought-provoking social projects, collaborating with people across the globe.
How does one transform so completely? "Was it always in you? This longing for exploration and freedom?" I was expecting Dave to reply with reference to Indiana Jones. The answer is however far less fantastical.
“I just wanted to change. Life was passing me by and I was very depressed about the way I was living. Everyday is the same and just disappearing into the next.”
“So I took a leap. I bought a skateboard, started to learn how to skate. Two weeks later, I quitted my job and began to plan a skateboarding trip across Australia.”
The trip was a huge success and generated enough media attention to land Dave his first book deal. A door opened and that, was the beginning of the end, the end of a life of hopeless emptiness.
What Dave has told me was remarkably similar to the anecdotes of many other freedom loving souls I have had the fortune to meet.
Everything started from a single step. Just like the Big Bang, from that singularity, a whole new universe bursts into existence, creating new experiences, new encounters and new opportunities as it expands.
“Through those new experiences,we grow as individuals. Through growth, we are able to learn about ourselves,discover our own shape and colour."
“And we can build a much more fulfilling life with a clear understanding of ourselves. At the end of it all, I would love to be able to look back without wondering if I could have done more with my time, whether or not that is going to happen, depends on me, entirely.”
There was always a calmness in Dave’s voice. Yet it is not hard to notice the clarity and confidence radiated in all his deliveries.
“What about the financial security, what about the responsibility... What about... the future?” As I cried out these questions, I realised that I was voicing my own doubts.
“Future? I might not be here in 5 years time." He laughed. “Living a life that is hopelessly empty for a great part of your life just for the security of last few years is a crazy idea to me.”
“I wanted a life I can remember and I believe many of us of do too. But people are afraid to start.”
“I was challenged very often by people the way I live and I started to realized that they are not in any way concerned about me. What they are really doing is defending their own choices, choices to remain the same way as everyone else, being comfortable yet discontent in this shell and safe haven.”
“Yes, it is timorous to start and yes, you might still struggle to find what is that you are passionate about. But if you never start, you never know what you are capable of and you can never fulfill your potential.”
From here to there, it is only a skateboard away. From here to there, it is a life different.
As I was finishing my interview with Dave, the sun started to break out, brightening up the sky and leaving no trace of the daunting greyness a moment ago. A girl in a red dress walked pass the window and smiled at me.
“Where are you at the moment?” I couldn’t resist to ask.
“Cotswold, and it has just stopped raining here.” Dave said, with that ray of sunshine, which never left his voice.
“For ever man has but one life. But yours is nearly finished,though in you had no regard for yourself but placed thy felicity in the souls of others…
But those who do not observe the impulse of their own minds must of necessitybe unhappy.”
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius.
Want to feel more inspired? Watch Dave's Say Yes More video on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHvWufuo-Ew
or Visit his blog:
http://www.davecornthwaite.com/
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