Off The Grid: How Adventurous People Inspire New (and forgotten) Dreams

People sometimes shut the door on opportunity without even realizing it. I learned that lesson earlier this year before booking a trip to Africa.

You see, I grew up watching the Discovery Channel back when that channel only showed animal documentaries, especially ones shot on safari. I was fascinated by what I saw. But at the time, Africa was as foreign to me as outer space, if not similarly out of reach. That’s nonsense, of course. But it’s what I believed as a young boy. So I did what any naive boy would do: I subconsciously filed the possibility of going to Africa someday as “forget about it.”

Time passed. I earned a diploma, visited other far away lands, went to college and met a girl. We got married, went on adventures and made babies. Somewhere along the way, I learned how to persevere and finagle my way into doors that interested me.

But my subconscious kept one door closed. That is until one day this spring when my wife announced she wanted to attempt a lifelong dream of seeing Africa.

“I never knew,” I replied with genuine surprise, this after 12 years of marriage. I really didn’t. The instant she told me, however, her dream rekindled mine. The door was opened once more—subconscious be damned. Africa was not only a possibility, it was about to become a reality.

Granted, visiting Africa isn’t as melodramatic as I’ve made it sound. Lots of people do it everyday. But that’s beside the point.