Running From Mediocrity

I’m currently reading a book called “States of Mind” by Brad Herzog. Herzog is probably best known for his children’s books (E is for Extreme, K is for Kick, etc), but he has also written two travel narratives. In addition to “States of Mind,” which was published in 1999, he also wrote “Small World” in 2004.

In these travel narratives, Herzog travels around the country in an RV, stopping in small towns and writing about the interesting, quirky, and inspiring people and stories he finds there. I was first attracted to these books because of the RV angle, but what has hooked me are the stories he tells and the observations he makes.

I recently came across a passage in “States of Mind” that helps to explain one of the main driving forces behind our cross-country RV trip. In this passage, Herzog and his wife Amy are out sailing near Friendship, Maine with Bill and Caroline Zuber. As Herzog explains, the Zubers have lived their lives by their own dictates. They gave up jobs and businesses, and even their home, to live the way they wanted, where they wanted. Herzog says:

“It was then that I realized what I admired so much about Bill and Caroline Zuber. They were in total control of their lives. They had taken it upon themselves to define the moment. It was a concept that became the credo of our cross-country tour and, indeed, a blueprint for our future, so much so that Amy and I turned the journey into a search for a home, setting lofty criteria for the life we wanted to live and looking for the environment that would meet them. We even began a list of fifty things we wanted to do before we died – attend a rocket launch, raft the Colorado River, catch Springsteen at a small venue – to make sure our epiphany wouldn’t be lost over the years amid the haze of compromise.

“Too many people I know – and these are young people, people with options – seem to settle for entrenched mediocrity, merely tolerating their day-to-day existence. A few even seem to revel in misery, the late hours or cold winters or tyrannical bosses or shunted dreams. They trudge through fifty weeks of tedium to enjoy two weeks of reprieve – maybe three weeks, if they’re lucky enough to get a promotion.”

I feel the same way. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and regret that I never lived the way I want to live. I don’t want to be a living example to my kids that life is a series of struggles and compromise the only option. I want them to see, through my example, that life is something wonderful and the only thing you have to do to live your dreams is to choose to do it. I would rather fail spectacularly than to never try.

I hope this helps to explain at least part of my motivation. I sometimes have trouble explaining myself, but I think Herzog has hit the nail on the head.