Life Changing Experiences: A Look Back at the Lost Arrow Spire

Everyone has that one thing in their life that molds them into the person that they are. Sure there are plenty of little elements in everyday life that affect the way we look at the world, and gradually show us our passions and things like that, but usually there is one big event in everyone's life that dictates who they are more than anything else. For me this event was going to the lost arrow spire in Yosemite, CA this last summer and spending a week out there. I was looking through my old photos in one of my spare hard drives just recently, and found a couple things that I had originally overlooked when I first did my trip report.


The best thing about the Lost Arrow Spire is that people hold it in such high regard. When things are sensationalized to great extent, it makes it even more rewarding to conquer them. Not for the reactions that other people have when you do something great, but for the self-empowerment that you feel after you do something incredible. We all have dreams, goals, idols, heroes, aspirations. These are the things that make us happy when we wake up in the morning, and they are things that help us sleep well at night. Dreaming big has always been fun for me, but it wasn't until the Lost Arrow Spire trip that I realized that dreams don't always have to be dreams. We put these things in such high regard that they seem almost unattainable, but in reality, they're not. Realizing that I actually could do anything that I dreamed of changed my life in the best way imaginable. This state of mind has allowed me to succeed at work, at school, with other passions such as climbing, skydiving and now BASE jumping. I guess you could say that this is the first time my eyes were opened to the power that humans have to do anything they dream of. The best part is, people grow in what they dream about, who they idolize, and what their goals are. My past heroes are now my friends, my past goals are now my accomplishments, and my future goals are so wonderfully complex that only I can understand them. It is this feeling, the churning in the stomach and the lightheaded anticipation, the numbness of your toes as adrenaline seeps in, the moment of clarity and love that accompanies the accomplishment of dreams, that makes life one of the most precious things that ever existed.