To Love life is to Love the questions in life

My friend Meg said something yesterday about their Appalachian Trail journey that I thought about all day long. Her and Celia's journey has been one few people - if any - have tried to do quite the way they are doing it.

There is no history to replicate. There are no plans; the journey is so ripe with variables how could there be?

Meg said, "There isn't any science behind our goal. We're just figuring it out as we go." I could actually picture the 'oh well - that's just how we roll' expression on her face when she said it.

I thought about that yesterday - how maybe the biggest gift these two women have as they tackle an unimaginable-to-me feat is how much they DO NOT NEED THE ANSWERS before they run head first into each new mile.

In fact, not only do they not need them, they actually thrive on having more questions than answers.

How many of us rob ourselves of the fuel for life while we are waiting on the answers we think we need to fully tackle it? How many of us rob ourselves of a life we can love because we are anxiously pressing for answers instead of embracing the beauty in the questions?

How many of us do not see the endless possibilities and hope in "we just figure it out as we go."

I was messaging a friend yesterday. We had a plan in place that was full of questions - including a lot of me questioning myself. So I messaged that I was going to back out of the plan.

The phone immediately rang and my friend basically said, you don't get to back out just because you don't have the answers. Part of life is showing up to discover the answers.

The beauty of that exchange? Oh, was I figuring it out as I went.

I think sometimes life tries to present itself as a challenge to see who can come up with all the answers first. This morning, I'm wondering if the people who love life most might not be the people who go all in on embracing the questions.

When your attitude about life is "I'll figure it out as I go" - well you never have an excuse to not go.

Answers can be intimidating. They can convince us we can't live without them.

Questions - they are an open invitation. They are constantly inviting us to experience life up ahead.

So do go ahead, go ahead and figure it out as you go.