Finding Wonder in life by looking for Bigfoot

I listen to a lot of podcasts and every once in a while I hear something that has an impact in a pretty unexpected way.  This happened to me the other morning while on my way to the office.  I happened to be listening to an interview with a comedian who mentioned his belief in Bigfoot.  Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, and you are probably wondering where I am going with this.  Hang in there.  I do have a point.

At the mention of Bigfoot, my ears perked up right away because I am a half hearted believer.  Mostly because it is fun.  Don’t judge me!
The host of the podcast began telling a story about going Bigfoot hunting and how his Bigfoot hunting guide justified his pursuit of Bigfoot like this, “Worst case scenario you go camping.  Best case scenario, all of life changes.”

Mind blown! The idea that you could take a small risk and everything might change….or not! Either way, you could still enjoy the ride.

For along time, I scoffed at the idea of believing in Bigfoot.  I mean, it is pretty unbelievable that a large apelike creature has somehow escaped being tracked down and put in zoos by humans at this point.
Then my perspective changed.  I realized I liked the idea of Bigfoot for what it represented.  I liked the idea that there could be some mystery out there. After all, if Bigfoot exists, it is a creature humans haven’t been able to nail down. Don’t we all need a little something like that? Something that provides a little bit of possibility?

How often in life do we hold ourselves back from possibility by saying to ourselves these type of statements? “Oh well, nothing will come of it. It’s too much effort.  I’m too tired. I want to watch that show on Netflix.   I can’t do that, I will never find that.  There is no point going out.”

Or even worse, we think we know exactly how something will turn out.  That our experiences are predetermined based on what we already know.  We don’t even think about making a change. We just lie down and accept our “fate.” We tell ourselves we are too busy, or we distract ourselves from making any effort towards our goals by taking care of everything else possible.  We trudge on in our day to day and forget that we even want to see things differently or experience more. We forget all of the weirdness, beauty, diversity, and surprise life offers us.   
It is so easy to stay in a rut and we often think we have to make big sweeping changes in life to shake things up.  However, I believe real lasting change starts small.  Making one tiny change can be the beginning to a new life.

What would happen if we made small changes or even challenged ourselves just to try that new coffee shop or drive to the next town over and go for a walk somewhere new?  Sure maybe nothing more than a pleasant walk or getting that morning caffeine fix.  Then again, you never know, your world might change just a little.
​
Best case scenario….you find Bigfoot.