Ben Saunders - Why Bother Leaving the House?

I have always considered myself to be a bit of an adventurer and whenever possible I love to find a challenge and more importantly win.  Even as a child I was always active, running around, climbing trees, taking part in outdoor activities and anything that involved being out of the house.  My parents always took us for days out and I used to love running around castles with my brother pretending we had conquered the highest tower.  As I have got older this has not changed and one of my biggest achievements was completing the Inca Trail in Peru.  

This is why I find Ben Saunders' speech so inspiring.  In this video he talks about some of the greats who inspired him to decide to ski to the North Pole and become the youngest man to do so.   He speaks of how he felt while enduring the expedition and how hard it was.  He tells us he is now planning to walk to the South Pole and then back again following in Captain Scott's footsteps but this time hopefully succeeding.  

His adventures and challenges are slightly more extreme than anything I have achieved in the past, however, I believe there is no such word as can't and it is never too late to try.  While watching this I didn't just think I must book my next skiing holiday, but that there is an important underlying message. We simply don't get out of the house enough any more   More people believe they can find everything they need to know simply by using the internet or watching a documentary on television.  I could not disagree more.  You may be able to look up Machu Pichu on the internet and find pictures but I can guarantee just by doing that you will never feel the satisfaction and see the beauty that I did, as I entered The Sun Gate after two and a half days of hard work.  

Again this is an extreme example but I refer back to my childhood experiences.  When I visited those castles I put myself in the soldier's positions and saw what they saw for myself.  Children learn by seeing for themselves and this means moving them away from their PlayStation's and away from the sofa. The world is big and there are still many places which are unexplored and if we don't change our attitudes there will be no ambition and therefore no explorers of the future.