Dear Wide Wild World:
Oh hello, it’s been a bit. Haven’t written much of late, but that’s gonna change soon.
Starting tomorrow, August 1st of 2017, I will post every day for the rest of my time in Port Heiden. These posts will be shorter than those past, and shall feature a photo and a related ramble.
That last post (A Pilot Down) got a little heavy, and the events discussed greatly impacted the Port Heiden community. But, to paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “change is the only constant.”
Many fear change. I know I do. However, if we are the agents and architects of our life changes, are the inevitable shifts quite so scary? Perhaps notions on “good changes” or “bad changes” are entirely subjective. Maybe it’s merely our perspective. Mayhaps each hardship teaches us something and every loss is a lesson in detachment.
Or it could all be nonsensical claptrap. I’ve likely just been reading too much labyrinthine philosophical gobbledygook. Heraclitus described reality as a flowing river and all things are swept up in this massive river of motion and life and death.
To that end, it’s time I shake things up a bit and post every day. This notion struck me awhile back (Port Heiden has so many cool sights to share!), but life throws us challenges. The river keeps flowing. Some lessons are heard in one moment, but not absorbed till much later.
A great friend, Christopher Constant, taught me some phenomenal truths when he started a fitness blog to share the monumental triumphs and difficulties of a 30-day yoga challenge. He wanted to improve his health while inspiring and motivating others to do the same.
Well, he inspired and motivated me, years later. Christopher taught me that sometimes it helps to adopt a daily practice to overcome challenges. And that the things we do each day become habits, then those habits become skills…but only if we work at them hard enough.
I started this website to share Alaska and develop as a writer. I’m honored to broadcast my love for this wild place while whittling words and crafting prose. Writing to the vast unknown human populous has been about as bracing as a cold shower, introspectively illuminating, and highly educational.
Yet inspiration does ebb and flow. As Heraclitus said, “no one ever steps in the same river twice.”
Throughout the course of these upcoming posts, I’ll share more about my daily practices (the non-writing ones) and momentary observations on Port Heiden. I’m sure there will be days when I don’t want to post or write or even turn on my computer. But that’s the glory of a daily practice: commitment to the cyclical grind carries you to a better place.
I hope you’ll join me for this next stage of the journey.
Ab imo pectore.
Alaska: Village to Village 