I am about to embark on a journey and in July I will return to Kokoda to take another. The one that I will take soon will be to participate in a story being filmed for SBS. The series that was shown last year is called “Go back where you came from” and it follows a group of Australians around the world to some of the more desperate of places where refugees wait in camps, waiting to get a chance to come to Australia or to go to some other safe destination.
The plight of these refugees is seen through the eyes of ordinary Australians in the first series and is a very moving experience. It will be remembered as such by all and any who saw that series. This time another group of ordinary Australians will take a similar journey. The difference is that this Group ll will be made up of well known entertainers, me being one. I do not know at this stage who the others will be or where we are going or what awaits when we get there, so all in all it promises to be a great adventure in the true sense of the word – an element of danger, discovery and some life changing experiences. This is what real adventure is all about and this is what real life itself is all about, isn’t it?
If it isn’t for you then may I suggest that maybe it should be! My personal belief is that it should be! Life is for the living – that is it is for those that are living, it being wasted on the dead. It is also for the ‘living’ of it. Life should be about the true sensory experience with all the highs and lows, all the joys and sorrows, all the failures and triumphs; in short whatever life throws at you good, bad or indifferent, it is all good.
Someone once said that life wasn’t meant to be easy and I believe that! It’s not! My grandfather used to say that “if it comes too easy it probably isn’t worth having”.
Life should be about taking chances, flirting with danger and sometimes driving close to the edge, sticking your neck out and daring the unknown to reveal itself, come what may. Is it really living to play it safe, to keep your head down and just amble along trying to go unnoticed, keeping a low profile so as to stay out of trouble or harm’s way at any cost? The cost is that safe might mean dull or uninspiring, because without real lows there will be no highs and without sticking your neck out you will only ever ‘see’ from ‘here’ and not ever from ‘there’. I have long known that when we are cowardly about life, life will take a hand because life wants us to really be alive, so life steps in from time to time and takes control.
Too many times we tend to see this as not a good thing because all of a sudden things aren’t going to plan; or just when you thought things were going along smoothly (read: dull) something happens to screw everything up. This is life’s way of saying you need to learn something new or important for your own personal growth or that maybe, even ‘tho it was your plan, you were moving in the wrong direction.
In my personal experience I have learned all my valuable lessons the hard way and I believe that is how it is meant to be.
Kokoda was a life changing experience for me and I cannot see how anyone that does the track can come out of the jungle not changed in the deepest sense. Those who do come out thinking that very little has changed in them or for them, are either in denial or just don’t get it for now! But it will emerge into their being in time.
Even the terminology ‘coming out of the jungle ‘ has real significance, the jungle representing the primeval, the chaos that has order, the darkness from which you emerge into the light. Maybe the jungle represents our fears and when we enter it we are confronting those fears and we desire not only to conquer those fears but we seek the knowledge that is always revealed when we confront our fears and stand victorious having defeated the fear of fearing.
I’ll share something very personal with you. I am going back to Kokoda to put to rest several things. Firstly, that last time during the walk I experienced a life changing experience that took me back to my childhood abuse and forced me to confront that abuse. It also demanded that I address all that had flowed on from that abuse – my addiction to alcohol and dependency on drugs, my dysfunctional behaviour, and my denial of responsibility for my own actions over far too many years. I also addressed the issue of being involved in a dysfunctional and destructive marriage/relationship that was distracting for me and our children. I decided during that walk that I would no longer live a lie and that I would do all that I could to either fix what was wrong or remove myself from being part of the problem so that I could become part of the solution. The result was that I eventually had to leave the marriage and bring about the end of that situation. Not an easy choice, as those of you that have had to do the same will know; anyway the end result was for the benefit of all concerned.
I will go back to Kokoda for similar reasons – I have reached a moment in my life where I need to finish one thing in order to begin another. I need to put something to rest so as to give another the opportunity to come into being. I am at the moment in life where I must choose and I choose the adventure, the danger of not knowing what the outcome will be. I choose to take the leap of faith. I choose to embrace the unknown, to look the danger in the face and say I am not afraid of what may come. I am willing to have faith in the Divine and the grand plan and I will act accordingly. I will welcome the uncertainty. I will welcome the opportunity to learn and grow. I am alive and I am living and I will not be afraid.
Your friend, Angry.