I have not done many of the traditional touristy things in the 6 weeks I’ve been on the road. I tend to prefer doing things on my own, with either Miss Daisy or my bicycle, or walking around to see the local sights. I think I just find it a bit more “organic” in a way, meandering around and just seeing what comes up, letting life flow naturally. After 40ish years of listening to what I “should or shouldn’t” do I kind of like experiencing life and the locales on my own terms these days.

There was one experience that I couldn’t pass up however. I wasn’t originally going to head to Jasper and pass the Columbia Icefield but along the way I changed my mind and started researching the area. I decided that I had to go there – actually, no, I “felt” that I needed to go there – and  booked a Snobus excursion on the Athabasca Glacier on line.

Icefields Parkway

I can appreciate why the drive up the Icefield Parkway is rated one of the most scenic drives in the world. It is absolutely surreal in its beauty, humbling in the magnificence of the surrounding Rockies.

I arrived at the Icefield Centre and we departed by bus to the base of the glacier where we boarded the Snobus.  The driver shared a wealth of information and stats about the formation and history of the glacier and surrounding area. Apparently, where I parked Miss Daisy would have been covered in ice back in 1844.

View of glacier on the drive up in the Snobus

Dave, our Snobus driver, dropped us off at the top of the glacier where we were able to walk around for half an hour. I took some photos, drank some of the glacier water, stood in awe of where I was and said thank you to the universe for bringing me to this place. There was something about standing amidst the magnitude of it all – appreciating the life forces that had created this beauty that I was savouring amongst the mountains, the glacier, the sub-alpine terrain.  There was something that spoke to me, something that changed on that glacier.  I could feel it in my heart.

Up on the glacier, for whatever reason, whatever force acted upon me, I suddenly had the clarity and motivation to make a committed decision about an area of my life that I had not yet firmly committed to.

When I got back to Miss Daisy, I was oddly excited and extremely motivated. I write down all my life goals and dreams and immediately wrote up my newly inspired dream, and pasted it on my bathroom wall where I can read it every day.

I spent a few minutes re-visiting my notes from one of the sessions I’d had with an energy healer prior to leaving on my trip, in which we’d had some discussion about my career direction and aspirations. And he’d advised me to “dream big”. Which, I must admit, was a concept I hadn’t fully embraced to that point. Until yesterday.

Why? Well, most likely for the same reasons that any of us are wary of thinking big dreams. Fear (most often of failure) or lack of belief in the possibility for ourselves. It is more that latter that seemed to be holding me back.

The Snobus

I think that I needed to know, feel and experience possibility on a grand scale. Standing on the Athabasca Glacier seemed to have achieved that for me. Appreciating the power of the universe that had created this grandeur over millions of years. If it’s possible for the life force of the universe to have created such magnificence for us to enjoy, then I do have to ask myself, “what is possible for me?”

I don’t think you can stand amidst such beauty and not believe in the possibilities of life. And the possibilities for yourself.

And I don’t think you can truly follow your heart and not believe in dreaming big. So it’s no wonder that my heart lead me to the Glacier, I needed a bit of a nudge. Now I’m “dreaming big”.

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