BEING LOST BECAUSE OF TENTATIVENESS IS BAD!

With nicer weather taking up residence in Calgary, it's hard to let a sunny afternoon pass by without doing something outside. So, I decided to explore the Glenmore Resevoir (I was there with D in the winter time and we were on foot, so we didn't make it very far). I was told that there was quite an extensive contained trail here. Gentle slopes, flanking trees, and lots of wildlife made for a great ride! Part of the trail went behind a hospital, and it was nice seeing some patients and their families sitting on the benches along the trail, taking in the warm spring air and beautiful scenery. I passed kids on their bmx's, joggers and a couple who were rollerblading. I remember them because they were pointing out some of the houses near the trail and how they thought the renovations looked nice. It's hard NOT to be distracted by the different kinds of scenery found on the trail. Anyways, I'm blazing along when I see some orange constructions signs, indicating a detour of the path. The detour leads me onto a bridge that crosses over one of the larger roadways, the Glenmore Trail. I suddenly realize the mental picture of the trail map I took is now useless because I'm feeling lost. If memory serves me correct, I'm pretty far from where I parked my car, and judging by the direction that this trail was now heading, I'd be heading even further away. I decide to turn around. So I pass the hospital, the kids on their bikes and the observant rollerbladers; I go by the same ravine and the same marshes. I finally reach the beginning of the trail, some 40 minutes later. I'm just about to get off my bike when I see a familiar face. Actually, 2 familiar faces: the rollerbladers that I had passed were now out of their blades and loading up the car! They were relaxed and looked like there were there for a while. I kicked myself for not staying on the trail. I kicked myself even harder when I get home and look at the trail map once more...









Kinda reminds me of a time when C and I went to Frontenac Park for some early autumn camping. We had a trail map (a nice one with topography from MEC) which indicated where the different junction points and campsites were. There was this one part of the trail that snaked its way through a valley deep within some towering trees. The path that we followed soon faded and we had to go by topography and distances. Well, this proved not to be effective as we suddenly found ourselves lost. We ended up pacing back and forth for quite some time. At one point, we decided to drop our packs and do some unencumbered reconnaissance. Frustrated, we decided to eat lunch, feeling terrible for eating our Clif bars because we expended energy trying to get unlost. Well, after about an hour, we decided to go back to the point where we first determined that we were lost. It was on a wooden bridge that overlooked a marsh. We stopped on the bridge to ponder. Then C turns his head and looks up. There, on a ledge just a few metres up was the junction marker! Ah, we felt like such idiots - it was there all the time and if we hadn't stopped the first time, we probably would've seen it!










I see a recurring theme. Tentativeness can be such a destroyer of progress. I think tentativeness is a result of fearing the unknown. So, rather than taking the risk and deciding, the fallback position is just to do nothing. Or retrace steps, since what has passed is familiar, comfortable. I wonder how much more can be accomplished (from a humanity point of view) if we cast aside defaulting to familiarity. Most of my peers are first generation progeny of landed immigrants. Obviously, our parents took the plunge into the unknown at some point, not really knowing what lay ahead for them in a foreign land. I can't personally say that my parents intentionally instilled a fear of taking risks, so I have to think that the rest of my upbringing did that do me.