Many times, certain questions, particular wordings, take on deep depths of meanings over the seasons for each of us.
"Where do we go from here", was the seemingly simple inquiry made by a fellow student on my first Outward Bound course.
It became one of those very fun, intriguing, and memorable things that we often discover, recall, then repeat a thousand times when adventuring. We asked it of ourselves, our Instructors, of the mountains, rivers & valleys, and even of the elements themselves when the winds picked up their pace and a storm began to brew.
We asked it of each other at the end of our course, with smiles, tears, and hugs of encouragement.
I even sensed that our Outward Bound Leaders, when asking this, often also meant it to reflect 'who we wanted to be as adventurers' as we each began upon that life course as well...
In later years, I would find myself asking it aloud, in the very same moment the Mountain Guide I was with, was also saying it on a very challenging climb.
It has been said with frustration when bushwacking and during navigational complications that pushed us so far off course.
Within the maze of some distant coastal islands, during a totally fogged in day, we asked it many times.
Deep in that cave and within those canyons too, we have whispered it to one another as well.
This question has been excitedly posed for me many times, when I am leading some novice adventurers out on their first scrambles.
It is a rhetorical comment I find myself saying quietly too, at the end of the day, upon returning to our trailhead, after a particularly rewarding adventure experience.
Many moments, just in the asking of this question itself - we found all the answers we needed, all the encouragement and inspiration, and that sense of direction as adventurers' we all seem to seek.
So Dear Friends, today I wonder once more, where do we go from here..... DSD
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