We have all experienced the excitement of embarking on a new adventure, some expedition that is frought with risk and has had our hearts thumping and the adrenaline flowing. As school children and teenagers, we have likely even sought the edge, in order to walk along it and flirt with the ensuing danger. The hazards then might have taken the form of a dormitory matron chancing upon a midnight feast or some other figure in authority discovering forbidden transgressions in forbidden places. As young adults, I think we choose our paths – picking an ongoing quest for excitement or (more likely) safe avenues that keep us among the cautiously accustomed. Our choices are manifest in our selections of careers and mates and hobbies…
However, it is generally understood that as we enter the latter half of our lives, we will proceed gently to tranquil places that are familiar and calm and unruffled. Is it now too dangerous to leave the still waters of sheltered bays and venture out deliberately into choppy seas? Is it then perverse that some of us continue on the course to exploring the unexplored?
