Living Out Loud

This past week has been pretty busy. A lot of time spent in preparation for our 3 week camping trip, starting tomorrow morning. The camping trip includes a six hour drive, ocean showers, a diet strictly of rice and beans, classes outside, cliff jumping, surfing of course, snorkeling, no running water, no wifi, no electricity and nothing but the great outdoors for 3 weeks. I think we will be able to honestly call ourselves beach bums. We're going to a place called Black Point, a black sand beach, which means I'm going to have to get used to living a pretty messy lifestyle. Pretty excited for the adventure though, living on the beach doesn't sound too bad. 

From here on out the weeks are going to fly by! 3 weeks camping, 2 weeks in Perth, 2 weeks at the Margaret River Pro surf competition, 1 week preparing back in Perth, and then it's off to Indonesia for us! I would be lying if I said it hasn't already been exhausting, but definitely such an eye opening experience. And it's only going to get better from here.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Tuck Everlasting. If you haven't seen it, I am truly disappointed. It's a classic, such a great movie. My favorite part of the movie is when Tuck says to Winnie, "Don't be afraid of death, be afraid of the un-lived life". That quote has been on my mind all week. I've been experiencing so much life out here. And I've battled with the one thing that holds us back from living in the lavishness of all of that, fear. It's the fear we create in our heads that we fight with the most. The one we are so afraid of, because we ourselves create it to be much more terrifying than it really is. And it keeps us from living, from jumping into opportunities, from craving that richness in the world which is at our fingertips. Think about all the things that hold you back. I guarantee you the fear itself is not as bad as the way you are perceiving it. Have that courage to feel and to face the true depths of things, don't fear life but embrace it! I used to think living was living in rebellion. I thought being rebellious was the most appealing lifestyle and I honestly remember wanting to make mistakes because I thought that was the only way to learn, and to be taught how to live. It's the opposite of that. It is not the bad things in life that hurt you, but it is all the good things you never get to experience. What actually IS living? We all have to figure that out for ourselves. But, I know it looks a lot like living a life rid of fear. It's making a fool out of yourself so full of joy, grasping every moment and opportunity life offers with two hands. It's going the extra mile and doing everything to the best of your ability, and with a happy attitude, a happy heart. It's loving people passionately and getting to really know their stories, it's choosing not to judge appearances, flaws, mistakes and deciding to see the rare beauty in everyone and everything, and it's doing little things for yourself, and then doing everything else for others. It's realizing what is of real importance, what truly matters in the end. And it's essentially being the best possible version of yourself, for the good of others and for the influence of the world. Living is making a statement. I would absolutely hate to live a life missing out on so much because I allowed fear to overpower my thoughts. Worlds away from all I've ever known, involved in a completely different routine than what I'm used to, exposed to so much culture and unbelievable creation, I am just reminded of how scary sweet this life is. We all want to leave some kind of legacy, and it all comes down to how do you want to have lived? And if you fear anything ferociously, do fear the un-lived life. Fear the unconquered fears, fear not making an impact, fear wasted time, fear conscious mistakes, fear the unknown and simply fear existing. "The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time". -Jack London

There is nothing that God put in this world that is so torturous in which we should not have something to live dramatically about. If we all saw life as that, we wouldn't have a complaint in this world. We live in such a day to day, moment by moment world where we are actually never looking at the bigger picture, which is how liberating and truly phenomenal this life is.

So, since I'll be camping for three weeks I won't be able to post any updates. But I'm looking forward to using that time to see all that's around me, to truly live out loud. Wherever you are, I challenge you to do the very same.