Is it all downhill from here?
Heading for the mountains
I made a few decisions when I turned 50. No, it wasn’t a mid-life crisis, but several things were coming together at the same time that allowed me to make those decisions – work was going well, my salary was good, I had paid off my home, financially I was in a good position; not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but more or less worry-free. I decided I wanted to take a break, to follow up on my education, complete a Master’s Degree. Time, money, and opportunity all combined at the right time, and I made the leap from corporate to academia. I resigned my position, shifted my savings around, and took a 1-year leap into space.
The Adventure Begins
Being back at university was exhilarating; being challenged by new ideas, opinions, world views and changed/changing social norms, having to match wits with fellow students twenty or more years younger who had spent the last decade honing their skills in academia whereas I had been conversing in the language and dialect of the corporate world. All these things were exciting, eye-opening, and (although I do not like the term) transformative. It wasn’t an epiphany, it wasn’t a religious experience, it was simply a time when my faculties were challenged, and I had the time to rethink my direction in life and re-analyze what was/is important to me in life, where I want to be, where I want to go, what I want to do, and how I want to spend my time.
After completing my Master’s I had nearly 3 months of time on my hands, and I had a decision to make: do I spend the next 10 weeks driving from the west coast of Canada to the east coast, then down into the USA and cross back from east to west and return to Canada; do I start hiking the Appalachian Trail (Bill Bryson is to thank for that thought, as are Robert Redford and Nick Nolte); do I travel through South America? The road trip was enticing, but it was getting on in August and into September, so I worried about the weather; if I’m going to hike the Appalachian Trail, I want to do it in one long hike-through (if possible) instead of small sections at a time; South America won.
The mountains of Argentina
South America, Here I Come!
For 10 weeks I walked, hiked, bused, flew and boated my way from Colombia and Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, ending with a sojourn in Brazil. As much as my year in University had challenged me and enriched me, this trip vindicated my decision to change directions in life, to take the time out from corporate life and to re-balance myself; to study, to travel, to learn, to explore, to make mistakes and to correct them, to enjoy the richness of the cultures, the beauty of art, and the generosity of so many people along the way. In retrospect, the year of ‘being-away-from-it-all’ brought me to the point where I am at now, a time when I get to share with others the many things life has to offer, and to maybe entice you to re-evaluate your life and come to the realization that life beyond 50 doesn’t need to be downhill.
