Hot pepper winds baked in the radiance of ancient lava flows, in your face reminding you of where you are. This is the Kona highway, the Iron-man road. These were bucket list miles for me. I’ve wanted to ride them for years after witnessing the Iron-man Triathlon on Wide World of Sports. Checked them off last week. I have found over the years that bucket list adventures are not for those on the way out but rather for those on the way up. They are sometimes unplanned, slapping you in the face and saying “What are you waiting for?” There are others which are long held desires sitting somewhere on the horizon. We all have these, hear them beckoning. For me, recovery means we need to heed the call of these inner voices which seek to challenge us and rip apart our comfort zones. Skydiving over Moab arches and Wisconsin fields, bungee jumping in a Costa Rican rain forest, skiing Sopris in the early spring thaw, living in a foreign country and feeling at home, feeling a foreigner in my own on Pine Ridge, raising 2 daughters. Comfort zones don’t exist in these places. What does is life magnified. Our work at Jaywalker is to invigorate our men to reinvest in their own bucket lists, their dreams, their joys. If they can see bright horizons full of color and possibilities, if they can taste the adrenaline of sobriety, than we have succeeded in dealing a body blow to this disease. We may not be able to knock it out, but we sure as hell can stagger it. Swing hard. Bucket list? No need to wait. JUST DO IT!
Dan Reed
Program Director
Jaywalker Solutions
