Keep The Flame From Going Out

I don’t usually talk about motivation. We all like what we like and do what we do for one reason or another. That’s hardly a controversial stance. But motivation comes up for me with caching all the time. I wrestle with it enough to wonder if it’s actually a wrestling match or a dance.

I have been known to travel a bit to find caches. I have seen mountains, canyons, plains, forests, and beaches on three coasts. But some days, I just want to stay home in my own bed and leave the rest of the world to itself. And there are some places I really don’t want to go. I’ve mentioned this a number of times, but I’m working on a book. And I’ve been working on it for quite a while. It’s written and edited, but I’m going back through to make a second round of edits. That has been slow, primarily because I do not like going over the same ground twice. I can do the same action or activity for different instances repeatedly, but replicating previously done work on the same thing is far more difficult. Consequently, I have been on my second round for over a year. At the root of both of those is an even deeper issue: some days, I don’t want to go out and find a cache. Some days, I want to leave it alone for another day and stick to my hobbit hole.

We all get tired, even of things we love. But the fire is usually still there. Perhaps it’s a low flame, just enough to set another feeling or drive alight. Sometimes, it’s a hot coal, glowing red and radiating longing in our chests. Other times, it is merely embers, producing neither heat nor light in substantive quantities but still blazing against the shroud of night. But it’s not too late to keep the flame from going out. To blow on the remaining embers will make them blaze enough to light kindling. The hot coal preserves the heat that can rebuild the warmth of the fire. The low flame, given some fuel, can commence a conflagration.

So, some days, I don’t want to edit, but I want to put out the best book I can about my caching adventures. Some days, I don’t want to travel, but I still want to see all the places and complete my chosen project. Some days, I don’t want to find a cache, but I do. I mean, if I didn’t, what would I write about? On all those days, something remains to rekindle me when I flag, whether it’s my ambition, curiosity, or vanity. More often than you know, it’s the people who read all this drivel I write.

I guess my point here (and I do have one) is that you probably have times when you feel caught in a doldrum, whether it’s about caching or something else in your life (though we all know caching is the most important thing, right?). That’s OK. It happens. Take some time. Get some rest. And then stoke that fire and get the boiler going again! Full steam ahead!