Time

Time, our best friend or our worst enemy.  It either comes too soon or not soon enough. Whether it be something that we’re longing for, that never seems to get here fast enough.  Just as Christmas is to a child, who anxiously waits for the excitement of paper crinkling beneath their tiny fingers as they rip open a carefully wrapped present.  Or it comes to soon just as it does for an elder couple who have been madly in love for half a century.  Realizing that their time is running short as the sand begins to reach the bottom of their hourglass, seemingly ever so quickly.  Either way, we are all running on borrowed time.

Last night I was driving along on my way to Jamba Juice in efforts to satisfy my craving for something sweet.  As I was closing in on my destination, I passed a couple walking on the side walk.  The glare of the streetlights bounced off their packs, like moonlight bouncing off of exposed granite rocks high up on the mountain top.  Now you might think they were homeless.  Because why else would two people be walking so close to downtown San Diego, with all they need nestled carefully into a pack they must bear on their back?  However, upon closer examination you would noticed that their clothes were clean and new, their packs looking just as if they had just come off the self at REI.  Homeless, probably not; hiker trash, most definitely so.  Their destination, who knows.

This made to contemplate my own journey.   A journey that doesn’t seem to get here soon enough yet will most certainly arrive too soon.  I am reminded this as I look at the timer on the corner of my blog with the numbers 75 days 14 hours glaring back at me.  It is like the timer is asking me, are you ready, but then in the same breath saying lets go.  The 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail is calling.  But have I planned enough?
We do this with our day to day lives as well.  There is a plan for this, a plan for that.  We constantly plan to the point in which we have a plan for that plan.  No longer do we then live in the now but rather for the expectations in store for the future.  Therefore, missing what is before us this very moment.

Now I’m not saying that it isn’t important to plan.  Of course not!  Being able to have foresight into the future makes us different than any other animal in the animal kingdom. However, don’t let our perspective of time be your enemy.  Don’t be stuck in the past to the point you can’t move forward.  Or too focused on the future where you can’t live in the now.  I’m sure you’ve heard it before, “I’m going to as soon as I have enough time” or “I will when I have more money”.  If we wait we’ll have neither.  No one can gather more time, any more than we can put more sand in our hourglass.  Just as we’ll never have enough money because it is human nature to want more.

So, when that day comes when I’m sitting in that rocking chair staring into the sunset like a painting in the sky.  With the warmth upon my face, the beauty before my eyes, the sand getting low.  I want to sit there with a huge smile on my face, not saying I wish but rather I did.

What is it that you are dreaming of?  What are you waiting for?  Don’t hesitate, live for the now and see your dreams through.  Because we are all running on borrowed time.  Life is a beautiful journey, not a destination.  Live it!

Trail Name

So you might be wondering what is behind the name Honey Badger.  Honey Badger is the trail name that I hike under.  Trail names are a part of the long distance hiking community’s tradition.  It is a representation of the new you as the worries of the 9-5 world fade away.  The trail name is unique to each person and is the name everyone will know you by.  Names such as Timber because someone saw you knock down a tree, Crash because you are always falling, Billy Goat because you can climb anything, No rush well because you’re in no rush. You get the point.  So how did I get the name Honey Badger?

First you have to know a little about the honey badger.  The honey badger, Mellivora capensis is small carnivorous animal, native to Africa.  It stands at only 9-11 inches and weighs only 11-35 pounds.  Despite the honey badgers small size it has a reputation for being, pound for pound, Africa’s most fearless animal.  It has even been documented that the honey badger will fight off a lion when it is threatened.  Given its tenacious nature the honey badger has also been known to endure thousands of bee stings just to enjoy the hives sweet honey.    The Guinness Book of Records has even classified the honey badger as the “most fearless animal in the world”.

Standing at about 5 foot nothing, I have had to fight my way through life in many ways just as the honey badger has.  Well maybe not getting stung by thousands of bees or fighting off lions.  Rather, fighting off the negative connotation that is often placed on being a short male in the United States society. Everything from being bullied as a child, women saying they would never date a guy shorter than them to even having to fight my way into the Marine Corps because I didn’t meet their height standard.  I have always had to fight harder to achieve my goals as well as prove that with enough heart anything is possible.  This was the case in 2001 when I tried to join the United States Marine Corps after September 11, 2001.  Initially they had told me no because I didn’t meet their height standards.  Well this answer was not good enough for me and I was determined.  After much persuasion I was given an opportunity in which I made the most of.  Whenever I had the chance I fought harder, ran faster, and was more squared away than the next.  Because of my tenacity, I had a very successful career in the Marine Corps, earning multiple awards and promoting to the rank of Sergeant in just three years.  Like the honey badger, I had to fight hard to earn my place.  It isn’t about how big or small you are, but rather what’s in your heart.  If you want something sometimes you have to be as tenacious as the honey badger.  Therefore that is how I got the name Honey Badger.

Remember life is an adventure, waiting to be had.  You must be willing to get out there and live it. 

 

 

The Journey Ahead

On May 24, 2014 I will embark on an epic journey along the 2650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. A trail that begins in San Diego California at the Mexican border and ends at the Canadian border in Washington. Now I know what you must be thinking. Your thinking that is crazy, why would anyone want to hike day after day for over three months or longer. Yes, the idea of hiking thirty miles every day for months is a little insane. So is waking up every day just to go to work, to earn a dollar so you can do it all over again the next day. Greatness comes to those who are daring enough to dream and bold enough to see those dreams thru.

My dream is to live life as it is attended for me, not necessarily the common opinion as to how it’s supposed to be lived. This is true freedom, a freedom from within. For me this includes my passion for the wild and the unknown up ahead, while bringing others along for the adventure. The lessons learned along the way are worth more than those sitting in classroom. Too often we think that we are in control of our life, when in reality we are in control of nothing. Life happens whether we are ready for it or not. Just as fast as the bone-chilling storm billows across the mountain top; the sun surely shines her warmth upon your face in the morning. Sure there will be ups and downs, even roadblocks. It’s a ride that we only have one ticket to. So saddle up and enjoy the ride.

This past year I decided that a portion of my ride would include thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. If asked why, I respond with why not. Every second of everyday is an opportunity. It is up to each and every one of us to make the most out of those opportunities. The trail will be my university and nature its professor.