Be what you wanna be, Go where you wanna go, Do what you wanna do

You see it on a lot of emails...signatures with statements:

• Joe Blow
  "No pain No gain"
• Jane Doe
  "Winning is the only thing"
• John Doe
  "No guts No glory"

  ...the list goes on.

"Be what you wanna be, Go where you wanna go, Do what you wanna do"

However, I can't get myself to use it without feeling like a phony. Sure, I subscribe to it. But am I really doing it? Unless it's done or doing things to make it happen, it's nothing more than a feel-good lip-motion catch-phrase...a delusion conjured by a dreamer for his psychological well-being.

How do I make it real? Okay, let's break it down. Here's the plan:

• Be what you wanna be -
  • Life is short and time is expensive. It would be an utter waste to have life pass me by. Push the body. Push the mind. Push life. Feel the edge. Feel the limits.
  • Never abandon critical thinking for myself. This is tough when life-experience conclusion tells me that my deep-seated and long-cherished belief about relationships, religion, government, career or tradition is flawed, causing me to renew a way of life or a way of thinking. This has taken me to a state-of-being where it's only me and the loneliness of a long distance runner.
  • Physically, to sustain my fitness level - daily workouts, yoga, year-long commute by bike to work, eating healthy, mountain bike races (photo courtesy of NoahFallis.com), etc.
• Go where you wanna go
• Burning Man in August. Like OM, Burning Man is an experimental temporary community in self-expression and self-reliance except bigger and longer. OM lasted 3 days with 3000 participants. Burning Man lasts an entire week and expects 25,000 participants this coming year. It's in an isolated playa (dried lake bed) located in Black Rock Desert in Nevada, over 100 miles from the nearest major city. DONE
• Projection into the astral planes - to the extent it's there. Eastern religion that has been around for thousands of years say it's there. My readings have described the place in great detail. I am hoping to leverage my yoga to catapult me into its threshold, but so far all my efforts have failed. This only reinforces my desire to make that trip a reality. (almost)
• Do what you wanna do
  Short-term:
  • Ride the 35 kilometers from my place (Yonge/Finch) to Pickering on New Year's eve before the year turns over (an annual invite from friends). I did this last year at -15 degrees at night and froze half-way when a succession of arctic wind hit me hard. I swear not to do it again...but that was exhaustion and near-frostbite talking. That single act of pushing the boundary and testing physical limits and mental resolve paved the way for how the following 365 days were meant to be lived. For as long as I can, I'll make this an annual thing. It's as good as any New Year's resolution. DONE
  • Do the bridge crossing and the jump on the Don Valley trails with my mountain bike. I have to wait for spring for this. (can't do it now that I'm out of Canada...will substitute)
  • Learn French. This is ongoing with my forthcoming enrollment for Level 3 in January. (getting there)
  • Learn how to play the flute and do "Bouree". I got the "How to play the flute" book yesterday from the library and my colleague is lending me her flute. (got the flute now)
  
  Long term:
  • Ride solo on the 24 Hours of Adrenalin (...scares the shit out of me just thinking about this one).

I've started on most of the things lined up. Nice, but many start-up artists do that too...have to make it on going. When confidence is high I'm not being a phony, I like to see this on my email signature:

TheLoneRider
"Be what you wanna be, Go where you wanna go, Do what you wanna do"

--- TheLoneRider

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