“Awesome” is not only an overused word, but it might be the leader of the overused word gang. I must use it eight times a day.
But awe … real honest-to-goodness awe, I’ve experienced maybe eight times in my life. Let’s see…
- Flying on a plane for the first time at age 28.
- Seeing the vastness of the Pacific Ocean as we came around the bend on the Pacific Coast Highway.
- My wife in a little black dress on our first big date. Girls like that don’t date – much less marry – guys like me.
- Our daughter’s home birth.
- The first time my son said “I love you, too.”
- Everything about my niece’s wedding in Loch Lomond, Scotland.
- Seeing Cirque du Soleil’s O.
- Climbing to the top of Canada yesterday.
We rode this tiny gondola car a couple thousand feet straight up to the top of Sulphur Mountain. It took eight minutes … eight loooooong minutes.
And then we stood on top of Canada. And then anything seemed possible.
And on our drive back from Banff, with the Canadian Rockies in the rearview mirror, I got to thinking about how the world needs less awesome and more awe. We’ve leached out every last drop of import from “awesome.” It’s still a fun word, but it’s a gentle breeze of a word. We need ferocity.
Pick one thing today and do it better than you would have yesterday. Not just a little better. An order of magnitude better.
Make a conscious effort to reach higher and delight more delightfuller. The world’s drowning in average made up to look a little better than it really is. Please don’t confuse fame with awe.
Awe’s real. Awe endures.
Reach. Risk. Expect more from ourselves and each other. Climb to new heights.
I’m up for attempting to deliver a little more wonder to others. How about you?
We might fail – possibility of failure is part of the price of admission to awe.
Is it maybe a little scary? Yep.
Is it hard work? Yep.
Is it worth it? Yep.
Tim – now that you have experienced Sulphur mountain – you need – if you can ski of course – to strap on a pair and go to the top of Sunshine mountain. It is one of the most incredible ski facilities in the area and you should not miss it.; The Vista from the top is something that made the fact that I took up skiing at age 45 all worthwhile (apart from becoming a geezer adrenalin junkey 🙂
I had to tweet that sentence- “Pick one thing today and do it better than you would have yesterday. Not just a little better. An order of magnitude better.” So true and never said more succinctly.