Vision Quest: What is your legacy?

Yesterday I had one of those beautiful days.  Beautiful in that I woke up at 11:00, and spent the majority of my afternoon watching a random movie from the 80’s.  The movie, Vision Quest, was surprisingly intriguing, and incredibly inspiring.

Vision Quest is a movie about a Louden Swain, a young high school wrestler.  With his 18^th birthday he realizes that up to this point, he had no true meaning to his life.  Louden makes the drastic decision to embark on a journey that many others doubt and don’t fully understand.  Louden, in his journey to find meaning, decides to drop 2 weight classes to wrestle Schute, the most unbeatable man-beast wrestling machine from his rival high school.

This movie, and Louden’s journey, shadows that of a Native American teen embarking on a “Vision Quest.” A Vision Quest is a journey taken by Native American boys nearing puberty, in hopes to define themselves and guide their life at a crucial turning point in their transition to manhood.

I feel can truly relate to Louden, in that his dream was doubted and not fully understood by the people around him.  These doubts and these feeling of loneliness only heightened his intimate passion for the journey.  He closed himself off from the outside world in every way, and focused every grueling detail of his life towards his quest.  Louden worked his body to unthinkable levels and deprived himself of food to his begging un-nourished body. 

I will not go into detail on how his vision quest ended, or even how his match against Schute turned out, but I feel the American Novelist Don Williams says it best:

"...our lessons come from the journey, not the destination."

This movie really got me thinking about legacy.  Yesterday I received a text message from my dad saying that my dying, Alzheimer’s ridden, Grandma Joe had passed away.  He was my inspiration, my hero, and my twin from a different generation.  Your time in life is precious, and what you do with your time should truly mean something.  How will people remember you?  If you truly find meaning in your life, affect and inspire others, you and your legacy will live on. 

My lesson of the day to you: step outside your ordinary and challenge yourself.  If you are addicted to soda, take a week off.  If you are afraid of heights, hike camelback mountain. Obsessed with shopping, donate a few old items to charity.  By deliberately placing yourself in discomfort, I guarantee you will discover a new found strength in your life.

Keep your head up like your nose is bleedin’

TJF