I’ve flown from the UK to North America more times than I can count. Looking out of the aircraft window I’ve always been fascinated by the vast uninhabited wilderness areas. From around 36,000ft I would look down and dream about how things would appear at ground level. Rammed-in to economy class, I would reflect on how long could you travel down there without seeing anybody. Drinking a beer whilst munching pretzels I’d wonder what you’d eat if you were abandoned in such rugged places.
Flights follow “North Atlantic Tracks” – corridors organised by the air traffic controllers. These invariably fly over Greenland. I took the photo above (left) from the in-flight entertainment system while travelling from London to Detroit a few years ago. The Google Earth photo to the right shows the route that my wife and I trekked for our honeymoon in August 2019. You can correlate with the in-flight version if you look hard enough.
Compared with looking down a few hours into a transatlantic crossing, the logistics of actually getting there took immeasurably more effort. Gaining the required physical fitness was the easy bit. Months of preparation included vacuum-packing two weeks worth of food, training to use a bolt-action rifle, working with a local SAS trainer who would be our base camp, chartering a fishing boat to drop us off and pick us up and managing a kit list of over 100 items. All this effort turned my mile-high dream into the reality of being immersed in one of the most stunningly-beautiful, rugged and isolated areas of the world. The image embedded in the back of the seat a row in front on the way to Detroit didn’t do justice to the up-close beauty you can see in the images below.
COVID has understandably caused many to put dreams on hold. But we will get through this and whilst we do, there is so much we can do to move us closer to our goals. In prep for our honeymoon, Cambridgeshire wasn’t ideal for training to climb Greenland’s mountains but there were plenty of stairs in office blocks in London and Addenbrookes hospital and 25kg of porridge oats felt just the same on our backs as 100 items on the kit list! So make the most of what you have. If you need education, many courses are now available online, often at minimal or no charge. Maybe you now have the time to learn that new skill or write those letters?
In addition to the quote above, at GLS18 TD Jakes also said “If you have a vision that everybody believes in, it’s too small for you.” I like the use of the word “everybody” because I believe it’s very helpful if “somebody” believes it’s possible. We all need champions. Have you recruited your base camp who can help send you out on your expedition?
It’s time to re-awaken your dreams and test them on others. Find some supporters but make sure your dreams aren’t so small that everybody believes they’re achievable!
Answer honestly..
- Do you have a dream? If not, start to look for one now! If you suspended it for COVID, is it time to re-awaken it?
- Is it big enough so some will think it’s crazy?
- What steps will you take NOW to move it closer?
