Choosing the right fork.

The thought that there is "no better time to do it" is an interesting one. It ties in with the belief that there is no moment but this one, so use it. Carpe Diem. Sleep when you're dead.

Because who knows what will happen?

Who knows what comes next?

Just a few weeks ago I watched a filmed called "360" with some friends. I didn't like it. The reason why doesn't matter, but at one point a central character talks about how the choices you make in life are like a road that is continuously forking. One fork after another, and those forks are forks into another's path. The journey you take through life is traveled on a series of paths. 

We get to choose the forks we take. 

Some forks are at a very acute angle, almost running side by side, yet ever so slowly drifting apart. Others are obtuse and blatantly life changing.

As we grow up, people are constantly advertising their paths to us. 

"You should do this because...."

"I did this and it made me feel..." 

"Why don't you consider..."

We get to choose the forks we take, AND we get to choose what we do on the paths we take.

I find that there are two ways to choose your fork, and at some point in life almost everyone uses both. Either you spend time carefully wandering towards and weighing up which fork to take because of what might happen on that particular path, or, you sprint towards the fork and swerve dramatically, according to the curvature of the road.

In this case I have sprinted. 

For me it is not the choice that is to be seized, but the moments we encounter as we move beyond the choice. I was given a choice and excitedly galloped off down a fork. Now I can take the time to experience the moments this new colourful fork will present to me.

There is no better time to experience what is now.

So my choice was Belfast, or an adventure. I chose adventure. That adventure is a solo cycle from Istanbul to Belfast. I sat tonight with a friend and drew some lines on a very big map of Europe, turns out that route is nothing less than 3275 miles. Not exactly the shop for a loaf is it?

As it happens I'll be setting off from London on the 12th of September, so hopefully I'll get some nice autumnal sunshine as I cycle West along the Mediterranean coast before the European winter bears it's teeth! There is probably a better time to experience Europe by bicycle, but there is no better time to experience Europe as it is now by bicycle.

I hope that I can open myself to the experiences I will encounter over the coming months. I don't want to do things because I think I should, rather I want to go with whatever presents itself to me and experience what ever that is. 

A very wise man and good friend of mine once said, "Don't get in the boat to take a picture, take a picture because you got in the boat."

I'm tired of hearing people saying "shoulda, woulda, coulda."

I want to say "I am", and many years from now, "I did".