a bunch of stuff about ants

Did you know that it is speculated that the mass of all the ants in the world is greater than the mass of all human beings?

Have you ever seen an ant superhighway? Have you ever watched ants walk in a very organized fashion making set turns along the way to what seems to be a food source or a home base? One after the next they march the exact same path every single day. And, they are just a mere ant, and therefore have no idea where they are in the world. One ant could have its life in the bathroom of Mot Tah Noi in Southern Thailand, one could be born in my backyard in Newport, RI, one could be in the middle of the desert, one on an island in the pacific. Yet, that single ant has no idea where it is or what it is like outside of its tiny community, for it knows only what it experiences at a very simple level. And, ants are creatures of habit, as they will not stray from their exact daily route even if there is food nearby because they are so incredibly set in their ways, which also can explain why they often take very inconvenient routes to get food. And, more than that, they do not stray from their routine in fear of being eaten, killed, injured, or getting themselves lost and not finding success in that one day. What they do not realize is that there are opportunities to get food all over the place, no matter where they are on the Earth, but it may take some straying from the set route and some risk taking in order to obtain it.

 

I wonder if there are any ants that really just want to change its course. If there are any ants that are moving day by day through the super highway daydreaming about the big tree they pass every morning, or about the pile of leaves it is ITCHING to stomp around in. But, for fear of failure, the ant continues to be a prisoner of the superhighway, marching the same path, seeing the same sights, feeling the same patted down dirt under its feet every single day.

Imagine if that ant was free. Imagine if it took a step outside its realm of comfort, and did what all the other ants were afraid to do; it went and stomped in the leaves, explored new territory, took a risk with the understanding that it may be its biggest failure yet, but it also may be the most euphoric thing it has ever experienced. That’s what feeling free is.

 

I’ve felt a lot in my life that I was just another ant on the superhighway, daydreaming about other places, but not leaving and therefore only experiencing what was safe right in front of me. Sometimes I feel like I am going through the motions, that I feel trapped whether it is doing something that doesn’t elate my whole being or spending time in places or with people that don’t feel the fire I feel for curiosity.

 

Feeling of free comes when ya eat the juiciest of peaches on a brand-new beach when there’s no one else around to tell ya you aren’t eating like a lady. Feeling of free comes when ya are surrounded by a new mountain range in the middle of New Zealand and there’s a pool of the iciest blue water ya have ever seen and ya strip down and jump on in while everyone says you are crazy. Feeling of free comes when ya wake up in a tent on a beach made of rippled sand and serrated cliffs with the coolest of friends to the sunrise. Feeling of free is when ya shamelessly eat a pb&j in a field where sheep and cows hang out together and watch the surf come in and out and ya talk to them like they are your closest friends.

These days the biggest compliment I can receive after I do something is “aria you are actually crazy!”

 

Crazy to me means leaving the superhighway, it means doing something that strays from the routine.

 

So, I’d like to find that ant and let it free load on my pack for a few miles and let it see what is out there because a little craziness can be absolutely euphoric if you let it all in.