Why having BIG goals is important.

Crossroads are used in someone's life to describe a moment where new challenges or opportunities arise. Last month I found myself in one of those crossroads.

2019 had been an extraordinary year. I got married to an extraordinary woman, I travelled a distance equal to 8 times the circumference of the earth. I got to walk Camino de Santiago again and I attended some of the biggest religious gatherings on earth. I saw places on this planet that seem like belong to another world. I piloted airplanes, paragliders and rode in all kinds of crazy vehicles. Through my training, I swam hundreds of kilometers and ran for a few thousand. So yes, 2019 was a phenomenal year.

This is Ireland, but it’s a scene from another planet.

I ran my first New York City marathon at 19 years old. Since then, my life has been a streaming progression of setting goals and achieving them. And if I wasn't successful the first time, to rethink, improve and triumph. Climbing, running, flying, sailing, learning. Because of my nature, I never settled for little goals. They were BIG, challenging goals.

It was usual for me to reach one of the highest summits in the world and start planning the next big adventure. To set set new and exciting goals for myself. In that way, I always felt motivated, always looking forward to testing my limits and pushing out of my comfort zone. It's essential for me to always have BIG goals in all stages of my life.

I've never been impressed by what people consider "celebrities" even when I've been in a position to meet many of them. So I've only collected two autographs, from people I truly admire and respect. The first one is from Wernher Von Braun, the German rocket scientist that ended up working with NASA. He made it possible for men to reach and explore the moon.

The other one is a signed photo of Buzz Aldrin, the Apolo XI astronaut and the second person who walked on the moon. The photo is the famous "visor shot" of him standing on the surface of the moon. After his return from the successful mission on July of 1969, Aldrin was an instant celebrity and one of the most recognizable people on the planet. But in his book "Magnificent Desolation" he explains what happened to him just a few months after he came back to Earth:

"How could I have gone almost overnight from being on top of the world to feeling useless, worthless and washed up? I wanted to resume my duties, but there were no duties to resume. There was no goal, no sense of calling, no project worth pouring myself into. Although I didn`t realize it at the time, I had started drinking more. Life seemed to have lost its luster. On some days I couldn`t even find a reason to get out of bed. So I didn't. Something was wrong; something within me was beginning to crack. I only hoped that I could figure it out before I broke down completely."

It's clear that a life without goals is an empty life. It took him years to battle depression and alcoholism. But he got his life back on track and setting new, personal goals is helped him through. Now he's one of the most ardent promoters of space travel and space exploration, inspiring a whole new generation. Robert Byrne wrote: "The purpose of life is a life with purpose". Buzz Aldrin gave a whole new purpose to his life after his return to earth.

So, back to my own goals. The goals and challenges I've set myself in the past have always been ambitious and exhilarating. But the nature of the goals has been evolving in the last few years. I believe this is natural in one's life.

For 2020 my goals include more ultra running and hike & fly, paragliding races, taking tests and getting certifications. They include a little less climbing of the highest peaks. But they are still BIG goals. They are exciting. They are challenging and ambitious. They make me feel motivated and want to do my greatest effort to achieve them. And it's because they are BIG. It takes the same effort to dream of BIG things than to dream of little things. So I choose to dream BIG.

I've always said that, with everything I do, I'm not trying to be the most technical climber, the fastest runner, or the best paragliding pilot. I'm simply trying to be the happiest. And that is my ultimate BIG goal.