My fingers were oily and slippery, my knees a bit shaky. I’ve never feared heights but that didn’t mean I was completely tension-free.

I stood on a small ledge atop a cement manufacturing plant. I had spent the last two hours climbing and exploring the exterior of the sprawling factory. Up and down large conveyor belts, up and over tall water silos, scampering across large sand piles.

Climbing was part of my childhood. Trees, dunes, hills, rocks, my dad’s (small) office building. It didn’t really matter. Climbing things has always had an amazing ability to ground me in the present moment.

As I stood at the edge of the precipice I was reminded why I bothered in the first place. Why I dared navigate rusty footholds and sharp corners. Why I risked dealing with serious medical and legal ramifications should the unthinkable happen.

I felt alive.

The reason your life is boring is because the stakes are too low.

You do the same things every day. You see the same people, deal with the same problems, and pick up your dog’s shit on the same street corner.

The things you do for “fun” have become nothing more than superfluous distractions. Grabbing a couple beers after work to avoid going home. Dinner parties with nosy neighbors. Watching Monday Night Football and screaming at the TV when you don’t cover the spread.

You find yourself yearning for something big to happen to break up the monotony — wonderful or terrible, it doesn’t matter.

It’s time to raise the stakes.

Avoid trespassing on private property to climb a cement factory at one in the morning. Take it from me. But do something that scares you, that jolts you out of your comfort zone, that forces you into an uncomfortable circumstance.

You’ve heard this message a thousand times before. It’s taken over the “self-help” genre. “4 Ways to Instantly Level Up Your Life,” or “How to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone,” or “How Bitcoin is The Key to Financial Freedom” (ok that last one is just a personal pet peeve).

What you haven’t heard is someone telling you it’s your fault your life is boring. Not your boss’s, not your partner’s, not your kids’.

You owe it to yourself to spend your short time on this planet in a meaningful way. And the best way to find meaning is overcoming a challenge.

Trust me, if you’re doing it right, you won’t be bored in the slightest.

The climb down from the cement factory was harder than the climb up. And not just because my buzz was wearing off.

At the top of the I could see the lights of the big city in the distance. I could feel the warm summer breeze. I could survey my entire town in one fell swoop. I felt like Zeus standing tall on Mount Olympus.

At the bottom I was relegated to being me again. Lost were my thunderbolts.

But damn was I stoked for the next adventure.

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In Fitness And In Health

The Reason Your Life is Boring