Legendeer | Appalachia
Initially, I chose not to go to "Legendeer: Appalachia." The five days after I said no, I regretted it immensely and ended up choosing last minute to go. As I am quite skilled at, I quickly purchased a plane ticket to West Virginia and blocked out a week for art and outdoors and people in the woods of New River Gorge. After a red-eye flight and long car ride, I arrived at a row of cabins buried in a clump of trees in a campground in Fayetteville, West Virginia. In the drizzling rain, a group of laughing people sat at a picnic table drinking beer, their own personal color palette of bright rain jackets. Breathing in deeply the fresh air, I was welcomed into hugs of strangers who would become dear friends by the end of the week. Any lingering hesitation I had about committing to a second round of Legendeer was quickly forgotten.
There were a lot of choices during the week. I made choices like what hiking group to join, or what rafting boat to be in, or even the sleeping arrangement in my cabin. Each choice produced an outcome. My hiking group ended up being a group I sat and ate ice cream with for an hour, getting to know one another in a local Fayetteville cafe. The raft I was on had an excellent guide who was skilled and daring, giving us a pinnacle experience on the New River. All three of us in Cabin Seven slept next to each other in the loft instead of spreading out over the three beds, talking too late for how tired we were, making a little home in the woods where we would occasionally escape to and process life/art/the day.
The first day of Legendeer after hiking Endless wall, my group went climbing. Climbing a rock rising into the sky parallel with the trees came with choices: what to do next, should I let go, retreat back, or press on? When I would be stuck, unsure of where to move next, a calm and assuring voice from the ground would say, breath. Look around. Is there somewhere you can move your feet or hands? Breath and move. Then I'd choose, move, and either fall to be snatched by the rope and steady belayer, or rise closer to the top rope anchor. Even when I would fal due to my own mistake, I didn't question my decision to try and send the route I chose. I just got back on the rock.
The past year left me feeling I could make no choice well. This cause and effect of choice and outcome while climbing broke this feeling. It alerted me to the realization maybe I wasn't choosing wrong but had been faced with decisions where I was constantly trying to mitigate against crashing and burning. Neither of these scenarios left much room for error. At Legendeer, choices had no premise for a positive or negative result. Every day at Legendeer present the opportunity to "choose your own adventure." So, whatever the choice, it was bound to be an adventure. It was choosing between options where one was not more significant than the other, just different. All were starting points for a day of surprises, conversations, art, and outdoors, no matter the choice. This mindset was counter to the mindset I'd been stuck in. Situations of choosing based on where I thought I could succeed or get a better outcome. When awful results came I fell into lots of asking, what if? Choose your own adventure brings ownership and joyful acceptance of whatever lies ahead, sunshine on a trail or pelting rain on a pontoon boat, it's an adventure.
There were many conversations surrounding the topic of "choices" during my week in West Virginia. One question posed multiple times throughout the week was, "what do you want?" With your art, with life, what do you want? Because you get to choose. But, the most important question may be the one that comes after: so, what are you going to do about it? Legendeer is a rare community of go-getters. So many people I met are doing exactly what they want to be doing. Maybe it isn't to the scale they desire yet or the income level, but they're doing it. They are reaching and moving so purposefully to the life they want. Limitations may be present. Obstacles will definitely arise. Both, I think, help clarify what we want and make achieving it a rewarding journey. The question of "what do you want" instead of being an "either-or" question, or fear-filled question, became a question of "what is the adventure you want to embark on?" It feels a lot more freeing than having to try and guess what will produce a positive result.
It all starts with a choice. To buy a plane ticket, to submit a sketch, to make a phone call, to say yes. Viewing choices as adventures makes the outcomes less intimidating. "Adventure" implies seeing beautiful things, encountering danger, experiencing moments with others, facing unbelievable heights, and learning more about yourself along the way. Making a choice does not prevent challenges from arising. It is a starting point of a path where answers may be attained, but also more purposeful questions will be found. This journey is not about hitting the bullseye the first time, expecting greatness, fearing failure and uncertainty. It's about living wholly and choosing adventure leads to wild, free, purposeful living.
