IWillSeeTheWorld.com

Everyone in the towns leading into Death Valley told us we were crazy, and it only made the challenge more exciting. The heat was deleriously exhaustive and if I’m honest, I was was never sure we would succeed.

The relentless doubt…the inner battle during the mountain climbs and the long stretches of hot black pavement…was a serious mental challenge.

I got to know my mind better. I often found myself to be an observer, floating over my bike, watching the argument between the strong and weak parts of me and their arguments with the bike and the road.

You take something from every challenge you face and when you focus on one challenge for long enough a period of time, having to face it repeatedly, day after day, you will take exponentially more from it. Distractons strip away and you are left only to focus on the raw polarity of the problem at hand.

And from the cycle of those thoughts, around and around and around, burns a new pattern in your neurology, which you can take with you into a new and better life after the ride.

It took me a couple of years of travelling in countries with massive poverty and dealing with the infinite moral conondrum faced when staring beggars in the eyes before I found a way of helping that I was genuinely comfortable with. At a loss for not knowing where cash handouts would end up and realizing the quick expiry of impact resulting from most types of ongoing support or aid, I found empowerment through education to make the most sense to me.

I was also incrdeibly moved by the tragic stories of genocide and systematic destruction of educated role models I heard while I was in Phnom Phen.

That’s why I choose to fund the construction of a library for kids in Cambodia.

The experience and success was, for obvious reasons, incredibly rewarding. In addition to the undeniable satisfaction from helping people, I also cherish the learning and self development that came from adopting what was then such a lofty goal – raising US$14,000 for something simply because I believed in it.

I learned people you thought would join you and help, wouldn’t. And people who you wouldn’t have expected to care, to care and help a whole lot.

I learned inspiration is the most powerful way to affect change. Some teachers were inspired to inspire thier students to inspire their friends and family to help. The change there was a lot bigger than just the donations. It was the space between the dollars that I was also very excited about. The learning, curiosity and emotions experienced by those who took the time to listen and consider…and maybe even inspire others.

Learning first hand how to move people to move others, even without the unmatched rewarding feeling, easily makes raising funds to build a kids library in Cambodia one of the top 100 things I’ve done.

Work for an Adventure Camp

During my final semester of college, I had no idea what I wanted to do next. I was burned out from studying Quantum Mechanics all day, so I started searching for outdoor summer jobs. I made a few applications online and ended up getting offers for a couple different positions.

The first was as a white water rafting guide on the Kennebec River. I had been a guest with the rafting company the year before and .interested in a job there since, so I was pretty sure I would take the offer. Before I told them I’d spend my spring break at guide training, I got an email from Sara Johnson at Longacre Expeditions saying she’d like to do a phone interview with me.

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Walk on a lava field.

From what I’d read, Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii was sure to be an impressive place. It was. The lava field my girlfriend Melissa and I walked on was only a few weeks old. The volcano had spued tons of hot magma over the access road to the old lava field and into the ocean. Hawaii is obviously still growing rapidly. There was actually hot magma floating beneath the black rock as we walked on it for hours. The heat was intense. Between the beat of the summer sun from above and the magma below, it had to be hottest heat I’ve ever experienced. Except for spotted evidence of human life, like protruding street signs, it felt like we were walking on another planet. Eventually we found a place where the magma, still red hot, was actually bubbling out of the ground. It moved slow and deliberately. As the magma grew from the ground, we watched it turn from a hot yellow to orange to red and finally to black lava. We couldn’t get much closer than twenty feet without the heat threatening to blister our faces, so we stayed and watched the island of Hawaii grow before our eyes.

Most geological processes take thousands, millions, billions of years, but standing on that lava field we got to witness the earth’s surface change in a matter of minutes. It was also amazing to see how the volcano had very simply reclaimed the land people had previously driven cars on. We do what we can to contend with nature, but the earth is definitely in charge.

Swim with sting rays.

The boat we were on dumped about thirty snorkeled and finned tourists into crystal clear water off the coast of the Grand Cayman islands. The water was shallow enough to stand. Everyone quickly found their own space among the hundreds of giant sting rays swarming around us like birds gliding in slow motion. They were so tame and not at all intimidated by everyone’s flopping splashing and yelling. Some of the bigger ones had to be at least fifty pounds. When I put out my arms they would swim right into them. I picked one up just above the surface of the water and stared into their eyes. We inspected each other briefly before he shifted his weight and swam off with a slow grace. The tour operators assured us the sting rays would actually not sting or bite. At worst they may attempt to suck on our skin looking for food. Well I found out they suck pretty hard, and it may as well have been a bite. One of those guys sucked the blood right through my skin! The water streaked red from my elbow and I was left with a very impressive sting ray hicky.

Holding and getting a hickies from sting rays is probably the most intimate experience I’ve ever had with wild creatures. Things like this help keep me in touch with the natural world. And having been on a massive floating resort all week, it was a grounding relief.

Take a terrific trip at a terrible time.

It was only days before spring break and our relationship was broken. The rollercoaster had finally derailed and our plans to travel together were trashed. The weight was crushing me, so I hopped a standby flight to the west coast, hoping I could escape my misery alone in Hawaii. With bitter disappointment, I found all the flights to Honolulu were overbooked. I was stuck at a hostel in San Francisco. Her voice mails were too much. I phoned home. Somehow she convinced me we meet in Orlando.

The next morning she started her twenty four hour bus ride from Rhode Island and I boarded a flight to Miami. It was the closest I could get. That night she slept on the southbound Greyhound and I found a bench in the parking lot of Miami International. With my arms and legs wrapped through my luggage, I enjoyed the warm intermittent sleep as best I could.

My spontaneity had given me a weightlessness feeling; a sort of a mix between butterflies and freedom. However, Dad saw this as a tragic display of irresponsibility and our communication was therefore severed until my return to reality.

The next morning I took the first flight to Orlando and collected my luggage. My bank account was empty, but my new Visa had a full appetite. I smiled at the car rental agent as he fed my credit card a shiny white convertible. It was a Chrysler Sebring type; the cheapest car made without a roof.

The first stop was Wall-Mart. $22 for their cheapest tent would serve as sufficient and cheap housing. Second, I made my way through a McDonalds drive-thru roofless and bought myself an Egg McMuffin and one of those very neat and clean potato crunch things. A quick call to the half of home that would listen and then I made my way to the bus station. Her Greyhound rolled up with impressive punctuality. Ragged and tired, northern folk filed off the bus into the hot December sun.

Her smile was crooked, as if to express excitement while admitting sorrow. My weightlessness was amplified. Sitting in a car with no roof may have played a roll.

Then we drove.

I don?t remember all the places we went and I don?t remember the order. But I do remember most of the things we did and I remember how I felt; vividly.

We were going places we had never been. We slept under the stars. We showered at truck stops. We saw street acts in Key West. We hung out in South Beach. We kayaked into the sunset.

Our emotions were going places they had never been. We had fallen in love. It was falling apart. We were jealous. We were passionate. We were excited. We were depressed. We were sure. We were unsure.

The weightlessness, the places we went, the things we did, the emotions we felt, made the entire trip surreal. It was only Florida and our story was pretty normal, but it didn?t feel so. It was a terrible time for a trip, but maybe that?s what made it so terrific.

Buy a BMW.

If three years ago someone had told me one day I?d buy a BMW, I would have told them they were going to burn in hell for lying to me. I?d never waste my money on something so unnecessary, never mind pretentious.

Now, if I don?t get to drive my yuppie car for a day, I miss it like family.

I was never into cars. I mean, I drove them, but I was never a car-guy. A few years ago, I hardly knew a Ford from a Honda, never mind a Lexus from a BMW. I?m still not a car guy I suppose. I don?t know names and models of all sorts of cars. But I will say that now I’m a my-car-guy.

About a year into real estate, my 1996 Ford Explorer had just under ? million miles on it and I could finally afford a replacement. I was with my father, a trusty and experienced new car shopping advisor, and we were on our way to test drive the new Jettas. On the way there, my dad suggested we that just for fun, we take a BMW for a spin. That was my first time getting into a luxury or performance car, well consciously anyway.

Unless you’re like me in that you drive with two hands grasped firmly on the wheel, you probably wouldn’t relate to the exhilaration I felt test driving a BMW. Either my convictions against owning such a heap of bling were weaker than I thought, or this thing was way more fun than I could have imagined, because after two hours at the dealership, never making it to test drive anything else and daydreaming for a week, I went back and bought what was to be an addiction to my senses and a symbol of my difficulty with images for the year to come.

I?ve written many times about images. The BMW became my suit and tie in real estate. It didn?t matter as much when I showed up for appointments wearing shorts and sneakers, because I was driving a yuppie car. Oh, he?s not dressed up, but he?s driving an expensive car?he must be successful. Yes, people do think that way. Trust me. I pay very close attention to people?s reactions to the images I portray.

I truly am addicted to the stupid thing. I love driving it. Love it. It?s like cocaine for me. And just like cocaine, although it?s an awesome ride, it has some undesirable side effects.

There are more times I feel sick to my stomach because someone assumes, that since I drive a BMW, I am a pompous asshole, then there are times I impress and succeed in gaining a prospective client because I drive an expensive car.

Just this week, I was seated out on the sidewalk at everyone?s favorite punk rock restaurant; Julian?s. While eating and talking about real estate with my friend Mark, I was watching a cute couple with a very fine tuned punk-image pretend to not be listening to us. It was pretty obvious they found humor in such businessy talk at this place. Coincidently, both our tables got up to leave at the same time. We were crossing the street together and when I went to get in my car, I glanced over and caught them pointing at me as they burst into laughter.

That bothered me. I thought “Why do I drive such a car, if it causes people I socialize with to make negative assumptions about me?” And then…it bothered me that it bothered me. These two were focused on portraying their punk-image, because they wanted people to be sure to understand that they were not who they were assuming me to be. In fact, they were more focused on their image, than I was on mine! I may have spent more money, but with their delicately spiked hair and accurately picked outfits, they spent much more time than I. And as far as I know, there’s a lot more money than time in this world.

I have realized that everyone stereotypes and everyone portrays some type of image for personal gain, whether it be financial, social or something else.

Most importantly, owning a BMW is a great reminder that I can?t please everyone. I can only please myself. So that?s what I?m doing and I love it.

Let me know if you want to go for a ride. I?ll pick you up.