I woke up to some insane sun this morning, and it is November already. Nothing exceptional, I am only enjoying and appreciating that kind of little things in life. I naturally checked what had shaken the world while I was sleeping. I will pass on the unfortunately usual wave of negative news coming from across the world and across the city I currently live in. I have used, and abused all the bad excuses for fearing to pursue what I had in mind. Most of them have been eradicated by many reality checks, unwanted and surprisingly accurate, resonating and, after all, perfect wake-up calls. They are not bad news, only reminders of the journey I am on.

The detours I am now addicted to come from anything inspiring, disturbing for the well-behaved mind and challenging for the brain. They can be deep like the piece my Friend Nikki beautifully wrote, they can be extremely light and remind me of funny and similar episodes of my younger years (especially thinking that part of my university years happened in Bordeaux too…), and they can emanate from a missed rear naked choke on one of my sparring partners. I keep training, I stay awake late to read, learn, practice, reevaluate and perk ideas, old ones, new ones and crazy ones too. The wise ones tend to be boring, the crazy ones stick to my mind long enough to be refined to new ones: not necessarily more realistic, rather full of life.

The romance of living an adventurous life has started a long time ago, and it is rather exceptional to be able to get a regular taste of it, and in a definitely unscripted way. That is where and how its trajectory has been divergent from what was once the initial target. The more I dig, the less I follow the line of thoughts suggested by others: and those turns and other meanders are delicious to explore, write and compose with. They hurt sometimes (literally, in the middle of an arm bar at least), and they teach, always: to humble up, to bounce, to create and to breathe again.

So, yes, I am at another crossroad of my life, and there is an abundance of signs coming from everywhere: loud and bright traffic lights, some flashing ones, some out of order, some saying “stop”, “yield” or “merge”. I am ready to take a turn, regardless of what these signs say. One of the challenges goes straight to three values of mine: honesty, respect and trust. Big heavy words, indeed, which only encourage to shift gear, starting with reapplying them inwardly. If a llama got the opportunity to step out of its circus, I am sure anyone of us can too. For the longer run.

Photo credit © BordeauxSergeLamaFB– “Serge”