Breaking through THE BOX

For the past couple of weeks--okay, probably longer, but it has really come to a head in the past couple of week--I've been feeling very trapped. Nothing has been exactly wrong, it just hasn't been right. I couldn't put my finger on it and trying to figure it out (ha ha...get it?) just made me more frustrated. So, for my own sanity, I tried to ignore it and immersed myself in May sweeps.

As you probably know from earlier posts, I really only watch 2 shows. When I say "really watch" I mean I do NOT miss them. I even got my DVR just for them. And, if you've read my earlier posts, those shows are Grey's Anatomy and The Amazing Race. For the sake of this post, we'll ignore Grey's Anatomy since it really has nothing to do with it (but you'll probably hear all about it when I open up about my bad taste in men). The Amazing Race, however, was the key.

If you didn't watch season 9 of The Amazing Race, you totally missed out. It probably wasn't the greatest race since it was really a race between 2 teams. However, one of these teams stood out. Just from their picture you could tell this was a team like no other. B.J. and Tyler say they live their lives with "wide-eyed enthusiasm." And they kept saying, "TTOW." Whatever that means.

A couple of years ago, a friend gave me a gift certificate to see a pyschic for my birthday. So, I went...wondering if this was for real. Due to some other things that don't pretain to this post, I am convinced that it was. Believe what you like...this post is about me. One thing she did say is that I'm an out-of-the-box person who was stuck in the box. And I need to find a way out. This was about 3 years ago and it just came back to me this past week.

B.J. and Tyler are outside of the box. They've never been in the box. They play kick the box in their free time. I know a lot of people didn't like them but, to me, they had the right idea. And, in the end, they won a million dollars.

A number of people post that they think B.J and Tyler are fakes. I know they aren't...and I know this because I know one of their kindred spirits. My friend, known as the Green Turtle, is cut from the same stone. About 5 years ago, he was laid off by "the man." Instead of groveling for another job, he decided to go to Mexico to learn Spanish and, in the meantime, was sucked into the world of letterboxing. Then he read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. The whole thing. Last summer I got an email from him saying that he was very excited that he had his first paying job since leaving "the man." He was called for jury duty. I wasn't sure what was more disturbing--that he hadn't worked in 4 years or that he considered jury duty a paying job. Last I heard, he was on his way to England...because he'd never been there before.

That's how I want my life to be...outside the box. I need to find a pick axe, a chainsaw, a sledgehammer--whatever it takes to break through the box. And I'm going to find it.

In the meantime, here's some inspiration. You can visit the Green Turtle's letterboxing megasite here. And, in the post below, if you have an hour to kill and a comfortable chair, you can watch Kintaro (Tyler of "B.J. and Tyler") as he goes on his own spiritual quest pre-Amazing Race. If you don't have an hour, you can at least watch the trailer or the music video (the music video is pretty funny, but it makes more sense if you watch the whole movie first) over here.

And remember: If you give yourself to the journey, the journey gives itself to you.