My brother sent me a link to a Ted Talk by Ben Saunders entitled ‘Why bother leaving the house?’ Ben Saunders is a polar explorer and he explains why he thinks we should leave the house. Here’s a quote to give an idea of his angle:

“To experience, to engage, to endeavour, rather than to watch and to wonder — that’s where the real meat of life is to be found.”

While it takes a special sort of personality to take this to Ben’s level, there’s something to be gained for everyone. When I’ve spoken to people about this subject, they’ve always understood the sense of wonder but the same excuses keep arising for why they won’t do it: cost, weather and fitness.

Fitness can always be gained over time, if you have the will, and I bang on about that enough so won’t go into it this week. As for weather and cost, you don’t have to do a polar expedition to appreciate the essence of what Ben says. Of course, we don’t all live in Svalbard or Russia, but for those with open eyes there’s plenty on your doorstep wherever you live.

If you have ten minutes spare, check out Ben’s talk here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_saunders_why_bother_leaving_the_house.html?awesm=on.ted.com_cJ9J&utm_medium=on.ted.com-android-share&utm_campaign=&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=ted-androidapp

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