The Doorstep Mile Alastair Humphreys

Trying to summon up the guts to step out of your front door and begin is difficult. This is the Doorstep Mile, the hardest and most important part of any journey.
Are you ready to walk the Doorstep Mile?

Would you like to have more unusual, exciting or daring experiences? To be willing to take risks or to try out new methods, ideas, or experiences? I know that I would.
Are you looking to make some changes in your life: to get outside more, be a bit bolder with your business, take up
a new challenge or get more ‘life’ in your work-life balance?

Skinny dipping

It is a hot summer’s day. The sparkling river below is enticing. You’d love to take the plunge. It would feel glorious in there – so much better than being stuck here, hot and bothered like everyone else. But rather than leaping in, you remain on the riverbank feeling nervous. Vulnerable.
You think to yourself, ‘What if it’s cold?’
You mop your brow and fret, ‘Oh, respectable people like me shouldn’t be doing stuff like this.’
You clutch tightly at the towel around your body, unwilling to let go and unleash your lily-white buttocks upon the world.
‘What will people think?’
They might laugh at you.
You summon up the will to dip your toe in the water.
‘There have to be easier things to do than this…’
Sure enough, the first step into the water is shockingly cold. (That never changes, by the way.)
‘I knew this was a terrible idea!’
You curse at yourself. The fun you imagined has been suffocated by the immediate discomfort and the worries in your mind. How much easier it would be to stay here where everybody else is.
You almost retreat. Your mind whirls with thoughts of the cold and embarrassment, not to mention the monsters surely lurking beneath the surface, ready to drag you down to your doom.
‘They were right all along!’ you cry, feeling very sorry for yourself.
You shiver with cold and fear and your buttocks wobble. The pebbles in front of you look sharp. The sun beats down and the water sparkles.
What happens next? Do you stay where you are – or will you jump?

Would you like to live more adventurously? I know that I certainly would.

There is no correct route through life. There is no ideal lifestyle. There is not even one perfect way of life for you. It is better than that: there is an enticing abundance of intriguing possibilities. Don’t be ashamed or afraid to pick an adventurous path that tickles your fancy then go and explore it.

If you continue living the way you are, where will it put you ten years from now? Is that a place you want to be?