Adventure
Adventure and Intellect are two of the foundational principles of Blot and Blood. These two words represent the brand's primary mission, which is to help create balanced individuals. Balance will get its own post at some point in the future, but today the topic is adventure.
Adventure means different things to different people and can take many forms. The word itself conjures up imagery of epic journeys with Hobbits and Wizards, perilous expeditions like those of Shackleton and Earhart, and legends of heroes from ages gone by. It is an essential element of the human experience, and particularly for men, the need for adventure is inescapable. Our spirit of adventure is insatiable; it is inscribed into every fiber of our being, and although society today is making every attempt to cauterize this sense of adventure we carry, they will never be able to erase that which is written in our DNA.
Adventure takes resolve, fortitude, and grit. It sets itself apart from travel and recreation by requiring an offering of risk from those who partake. But adventure doesn't have to be some grand expedition to a distant land. It can often be found quite close to home. You would not describe a romantic gondola ride through the canals of Venice as an adventure. But a trip down the Gauley of the New River in West Virginia could hardly be classified as anything else. What makes one a vacation and the other an adventure is the element of risk.
My experience has been that the best adventures occur in the wilderness. Perhaps it has something to do with being in an environment that is outside the bounds of our control, or perhaps it's because wilderness puts us in direct contact with our primal nature. When you leave the artificial world behind, distractions are eliminated, and your focus turns toward the basic necessities of survival. Time slows, perspectives shift, and you are able to discover who you really are. There is an inseparable bond between our need for adventure and the world that exists beyond the pavement.
Adventure is not had while sitting in an office chair behind a desk or on your couch with a video game controller in your hand. It's not found on TikTok or in the dark recesses of the internet. You must look for it in the cold and the wet and the dark. When your heart is pounding like the drum of a Viking warship, and your stomach is threatening to leap from your throat and leave you for dead. That is where adventure awaits you.