![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533410576361344)
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Into the dark I went. The sun had long set leaving the world of light to the shadows of night. The air was crisp and the sky above was clear... but the city lights all around me blotted  out the treasures laid out above. Heavenly bodies held aloft by darkness and mystery. Jewels in light telling stories that connect me to the past, present, and future... hidden from sight! I had to do something about this! An adventure was in the works! Why attempt all this stepping at this time of night? For many reasons... which I will go into detail as we begin this quest!
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533414104486016)
All was quiet and calm... reminding me of one of the reasons I like odd hours. If you have some thinking to do... heading out on a walk is a really good way to create space to do just that! Everyone else is tucked neatly into their comfortable beds or their busy escaping the chaos of the day replacing it with the escape their television sets provide. I can see these things playing out before me like different acts in a live show... but I try not to pry. Everyone deserves a little privacy even if they leave their lives open plain for all to see; each window display like actors acting in their own scripts.
 ![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533418303544960)
Street lamps stand resolute guiding my way along the walkways! I press on thinking about the things I want to escape from... time ticks on and waits for no man. Our lives are like arrows shot forward at targets in misty night. Clarity comes... but not by avoiding the uncomfortable, but rather, by embracing it, turning our backs to the things and thoughts that don’t serve us... pressing on in a perpetual search for enlightenment and meaning! I continue following the way my shadow points.
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![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533420749330304)
Night hides the things you don’t want to see... it also hides the things that you do want to see... it’s indifferent and like a busy parent shutting off a bedroom light; really quite a time keeper this night... every night! But I’m a fearless modern man! A new pioneer willing to press on into the unknown!
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533422046261504)
So what is fear anyways? It’s the things that hold us back... the things that keep us inside our context. The static we call comfort... so why even venture out into the night? What if there’s someone or something waiting there just out of reach of my senses? 
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533423633501440)
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533423908679552)
There’s a calm serenity there in the darkness. A scurry here a branch breaks to my right. Whatever it is... it’s way more afraid of me than I am of it!
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533425294148352)
The silence swallows up the night time panic. It’s probably a mouse or maybe a house cat on the prowl. Nothing to run to home base over! I shrug imagining the terror on the small furry creatures gasping face and that gets me chuckling a bit. Up ahead and bellow a bridge awaits. I wonder if there is a troll lazily flopped down underneath it. Yes! A perfect spot to ambush the unsuspecting. I had better stay alert!
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533427841798528)
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533428364365184)
Making my way a step at a time the earth breaths a sigh of relief as I pass. The sent of pine and spruce along with moss calm my nerves and I continue on.
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533429431270912)
I look up! And there in the night sky are a hundred and one diamonds lighting up to point the way! The same stars I saw when I was in Hawaii a year ago... before this brutish pandemic had its way with the human race. Everything ground to a halt but I continue to look to the sky. I know that if I stay focused on my dreams... the next steps I take towards those objectives will become clear.
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533431629926784)
Onward I go. The darkness closes in around me but I don’t give up! Because I know that my friends are watching me... the actions I take today will matter tomorrow! I’m competing in another step challenge with my friends on Fitbit! And these are such great people! So good are these people that I’ve gotta be as good as I can be too! Even if it means putting in another 10,000 steps before my head hits my pillow! 

I have always believed in doing just one more thing to move me closer to my goals... it’s the extra effort you take. The extra step. 

These day's I'm doing a lot of that! Connecting with new people all around the world on Hive and Twitter. Pouring myself into positive and collaborative efforts! 

I just want to do everything I can to be as human as I can with the people I meet. Being real and genuine. True and honestly authentic. I want people who connect with me to feel GREAT about themselves!

How do I do that? By showing people I care and by making extraordinary efforts to connect and value the people I meet on and offline. (And that’s something the Hive Blockchain that hosts this blog does so well doesn’t it!?) 

So what do I gotta do to get peoples attention and show them I care? How can I get people to care about the same things I do? How can I show them what’s possible here on Hive? (Getting paid to step and post about it! Yeah! That’s right! Hive does that!) 

By showing people in everything I do and say that I care about them. That’s how... and so I take my next step!
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533436989940096)
Then I see it! Dancing in the fresh outdoor air! The city lights blink to life behind a screen of shrouding trees silhouetted like tall scraggly woodland giants.

Down bellow the river surges ahead on its predetermined course. There's a pathway far bellow and a small light streaks it’s way through the trees bellow and to the right on the other bank. Another adventurer and his sturdy bike dash along lit only by a single light.
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533439212377472)
I resist the urge to holler across the way from the hills above... it would be fun to see or imagine their startled face! Would they scurry away like the mouse did? Or would they stop their quest to holler the adventures welcome back at me? I’m satisfied with the mental image. I don’t want to break up the quiet peace the surrounds me. I am enjoying the solitude and my thoughts to much to make an effort to disturb them so I keep grounded in the moment and continue on. And that’s when I reach my destination. The lack of light and clarity has not stopped me from getting HERE.
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533442092643968)
Another bridge (a much longer and stronger one) spans from one side of the river to the other connecting two worlds. A thought springs to mind... Maybe I can be that bridge... and maybe it doesn’t have to be all scary! I can light the way! Like that giant Christmas tree (in April of all things! See it! It’s off to the right!)! As I look down my eyes and ears catch some other adventurous souls... they aren’t doing as well as I am. Flashlight in hand they are stumbling down the stairway I’m stand atop.
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533444849834240)
I don’t think they have done this before... not at night anyways! I glance at my Fitbit watch. The time says 10:19pm. Are they lost?! They sure seem to be! Their voices pitched break the quiet. 

Surely they aren’t lost... how can you be? They have got flashlights and a path before them right?! Taking one last look at the sight I had come to see. It's a symbol of some semblance. A plan. A way forward to those who will it and build it. The footbridge bellow lights a way beckoning people of all sorts to leave there comfy couches and go on adventurous walks... in the dimly lit byways and lightly trodden forested paths.
 ![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533448396766080)
The lost souls in the staircase below me will have to find their own way... after all, I wouldn’t want to interrupt or breakup the fun they are having together!  On our separate adventures, I turn on my heel to go. I am satisfied with my steps... And I’m please that I will be able to double them on my way back!
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533451832642176)
The fresh air has cleared my head and I am feeling healthy, happy, and whole again so I head back across the walkway that gates off my world from that of the adventure I have just been on... 

I’m reminded of what an adventure we are all on! And here’s the thing about answering the call of adventure... An adventure is called an adventure because you just never know how they are going to end! 

And would you want it any other way?

@wil.metcalfe
Certified Personal Trainer
Fitness Entrepreneur 

@Actifit
@AdventureReady
@BeachReady
@OneMoreNutrition
@EveryStepCounts

And the creative mind behind the WIN SYSTEM and a collaborator compounding trust on the Hive Blockchain and Twitter one #HighFive at a time!
___
<center>Today’s proof of #AutomaticWin! 10,000 steps BEFORE 10am!</center>
![](https://usermedia.actifit.io/06F527DD-5AF3-45E7-A042-E372FDC6A67D637533455555097856) <br/> _This report was published via Actifit app ([Android](https://bit.ly/actifit-app) | [iOS](https://bit.ly/actifit-ios)). Check out the original version [here on actifit.io](https://actifit.io/@wil.metcalfe/actifit-wil-metcalfe-20210406t224319973z)_ <br/> <br><img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXv9QWiAYiLCSr3sKxVzUJVrgin3ZZWM2CExEo3fd5GUS/sep3.png"><br><table>	<tr>		<img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRgAoqi4vUVymaro8hXdRraNX6LHkXhMRBZxEo5vVWXDN/ACTIVITYCOUNT.png">	</tr>	<tr>		<div class="text-center"><b>24451</b></div>	</tr></table><table>	<tr>		<img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZ6ZT8VaEpaDzB16qZzK8omffbWUpEpe4BkJkMXmN3xrF/ACTIVITYTYPE.png">	</tr>	<tr>		<div class="text-center"><pre><b>Daily Activity,Running,Walking,Weight Lifting</b></div></pre></div>	</tr></table><div class="text-center"><img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNp6YwAm2qwquALZw8PdcovDorwaBSFuxQ38TrYziGT6b/A-20.png"><a href="https://bit.ly/actifit-app"><img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQqfpSmcQtfrHAtzfBtVccXwUL9vKNgZJ2j93m8WNjizw/l5.png"></a><a href="https://bit.ly/actifit-ios"><img src="https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbWy8KzKT1UvCvznUTaFPw6wBUcyLtBT5XL9wdbB7Hfmn/l6.png"></a></div>