Doing Something Beyond the Comfort Zone
When I was on my honeymoon on an Alaskan cruise, my wife really wanted to try ziplining. Unfortunately, my weight was slightly above the suggested max weight, so instead of staying in town or just hanging out, I went on a walk.
I saw a tiny river coming down from the mountain, and I decided to go see that river. I thought that if I don’t do this now, there will never be another chance in my life I’ve ever seen this. So I walked through the town, walked through the forest, and up the mountain and found that river. It was such a life-altering moment sitting there and breathing in the idea that I just went and found a river in the middle of nowhere.
The entire world looked like a painting. When I realized what time it was, I started to walk back and ended up getting lost on the mountain. I ran into a hiker by chance, and he guided me back down the mountain. I tried to find my way back down from where he left me and met another person who let me into his house and showed me the way through town. He even gave me a coffee to go from his own coffee pot.
I walked back into town feeling physically exhausted after walking for about four or five hours. And it was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever done.
At the time, I was doing a journalistic webcomic about my life, and I ended up trying watercolor for the first time to color this story. Because I felt since I tried something so out of my norm and wheelhouse by venturing up into a mountain, I might try doing art differently.