Wanna know the scariest part of any of my outdoor leadership expeditions?
It’s not bears or snakes, frigid temperatures or high elevation.
No, the scariest thing is… silence.
I know what you’re thinking: “Mike, you ate some funny berries again, didn’t you…?”
Not this time, friend…
For me and every person who’s ever embarked on any of my outdoor leadership expeditions, facing silence is more frightening than a grizzly bear… because in silence you’re forced to stand face to face with your internal realities.
You see, once you’re alone with your thoughts, crazy things start to happen.
There are things deep in your mind, heart and soul that you’ve forgotten or neglected… bad habits you’ve allowed to develop… or stagnant complacency has overtaken your once insatiable ambition…
You’re not who you think you are…
…or who you want to be.
You’re not doing what actually makes you happy…
…you’re living a hum-drum life of deceptively soothing illusions…
You’re not achieving your goals or living the life you want…
…you’ve been sucked into a vicious cycle of angst, monotony and subtle yet gnawing self-loathing.
It’s terrifying…
But that’s what happens in silence… and as scary as it is… it MUST happen.
Because it’s simply a matter of coming to terms with truth… our deepest truths.
Now, a big question must be asked: why do we have this shocking disconnect between ourselves and reality?
Because we’re steeped in lies, lies, lies
There is so much in the everyday, average, day-to-day life of most people on this planet that deceives and limits them to unhappy mediocrity.
The endless stream of entertainment force-feeds every one of our senses into a gluttonous lethargy. (They give us feelings of happiness, but is it true happiness?)
The frantic “can’t wait, must happen now” culture of digital madness runs our brains into the ground to the point we have to rely on apps to remember things and order our lives. (Minds too overloaded to evaluate the present can’t hope to aspire for future success.)
The spirit of complacency and animosity towards ambition squelches the valiant heart faster than any failure ever could. (The softness of our age is poison if you want to achieve great things.)
Not to mention our own weaknesses war against us. We tell ourselves one thing and do another. We say we’ll get to it, but we don’t. We pretend we’re happy when we’re not. We insist, “I’ll get there someday, it’ll happen, somehow”, when we know deep down that on our current course, we’ll never get there…
It’s not good, but it’s human nature. We all do it.
Outdoor leadership expeditions take all of those deceitful illusions and shatter them in an instant…
Outdoor leadership expeditions destroy deception and reveal truth
When you unplug from your day-to-day frantic work life, stressful personal life and incessant distractions, deception starts to melt away and truth reveals itself.
If you embrace outdoor leadership expeditions what you’re saying is: “Rain or shine, hot or cold… it doesn’t matter. I’m right here, right now… come what may. I’m here to meet nature on her own terms…”
You’re forced to do one thing that’s the truest thing you can ever do. Live in the moment. Accept reality for what it is. Find out who you are, what you want and how you’re going to get it.
These are your deepest truths, and so often we must rediscover them because the deceits of the world have buried them so deep.
But you’ll never rediscover these truths unless you give yourself the freedom to do so. The freedom I’m talking about is the freedom to think. To explore your own head and heart. To reflect on your past and make actionable plans for a future you’ll be proud of. To become who you were made to be.
And that freedom is only found in the most terrifying thing of all… silence.
Do you dare to leave the deceits and distractions of day-to-day life behind?
Do you dare to shatter your own deceptive self-perceptions?
Do you dare to embark on a journey into silence to rediscover your deepest truths?
The choice is yours. Sign up today for outdoor leadership expeditions with me and let’s make the journey together…
P.S. If you’re interested, I recount my own journey of self-discovery across all seven continents in my book Wandermust available on Amazon.
P.P.S. If you’d like to try before you buy, sign up to download the first chapter for free.
