Adventure is an exciting, bold, or very unusual experience which usually presents a challenge and in some instances may involve hazardous or risky activity. Get out of your comfort zone - that’s an adventure!
We owe a lot to adventurous spirits. Civilization is a result of adventure. Willingness to face the unknown is necessary to explore, whether it is exploration of a geographical area or an new idea. In Time Doesn’t Matter, the first Vic Challenger novel, Vic goes hiking into the jungles of the Yucatan. It is an adventure but it occurs to Vic how much more exciting it must have been for early explorers from Europe - with no map, no idea of distances involved, and no knowledge of dangerous wildlife or local inhabitants.
Adventures offer personal benefits, too. One simple benefit is memories. You likely don’t remember breakfast 27 days ago. It was probably routine with nothing to make it memorable. Routine is useful and aids in organization and getting things done, but it detracts for the uniqueness of the moment or day. Life which is constant routine provides no reason to recall a day or week. That’s what most of us call blah or boring.
Just as adventure has pushed the limits and boundaries of civilization, it does the same with us. The more we stretch our personal limits and get outside what we call our comfort zone, the greater our capacity to do even more. One part of that growth is simple knowledge. We know more of “how” and knowledge (usually) grows from previous information. Perhaps a greater portion of that personal growth is confidence. Once I do this, then surely I can do that, and after that it should be no problem to….
Something which I personally think is very important about adventuring (Yes adventure is not only a noun - it is a seldom used verb; we tend to say go on an adventure, or have an adventure. That, I believe, is a digression.) What do I think is as important as confidence and knowledge? Pizzazz! Fun! Thrill! Boring feels safe and steady but an adventure makes the heart beat faster, pumps out the adrenaline, clarifies thoughts and simply makes life more interesting!
A wonderful feature of adventure is its relativity. We have all witnessed how excited a child gets in the toy isle of the store or visiting the park or just seeing a big truck! To us it may be un-noteworthy, but to the child it is new and thrilling! A fabulous aspect of that relativity is it doesn’t grow old. Whatever your age, adventuring requires only that you do something out of YOUR ordinary which means we can all forever be an adventuress or adventurer! You may not have the physical capacity to visit the South Pole. You may not have the finances for a well out-fitted expedition up Mount Everest or to buy a ticket on a space ship. Yet, an adventure just requires something different and out of your comfort zone. The only routine Vic Challenger subscribes to is regular adventuring!
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| Wonderland can be anywhere. Find Yours! |
1. Leave for work early and take a new, more ‘scenic’ route.
2. Read an adventure book. (May I suggest a Vic Challenger novel?)
3. Visit a library and browse books, the real kind, printed on paper. Exploration!
4. Go to a sporting event you have never attended. If you go to all the football or baseball games, they don’t count. Try a swim meet, golf tournament, track meet, rodeo or archery championship - anything new to you.
5. Begin a journal. Write everyday and challenge yourself to have something “more” to write about daily.
6. Exercise. Study it. Create your own workouts and have at least 7 - one for each day.
7. Play games - with other people! Poker, Monopoly, Chess, Bridge, Billiards, _________
8. Play kids games - jackstraws (pick up sticks), jacks, jump rope, etc. If you are over 25, really think your eye hand coordination stays the same without practice?
9. Do number one and stop at a coffee shop you have never visited.
10. Strike up a conversation with a stranger. Or just pick a busy block, walk down it and look directly at everyone you pass, smile and say something fab, like “Good Morning!”
11. Join a social club, book club, or something like Toastmasters.
12. Visit an amusement park.
13. If you never go to the movies, go. If you usually go to movies, go to a play or opera. In other words -something different.
14. Eat at an ethnic restaurant that serves food you have never tried.
15. Have a picnic at the park this weekend.
16. Next time it rains, go out and play in it.
17. Begin a collection - dolls, match books, coins, post cards, figurines, _________.
18. If you don’t cook, make something every night for a week (without help beyond a cookbook).
19. If you are not a student, take a class. Anything will do - Calculus? A craft? A language?
20. Schedule problems with 19 at a formal class? Buy a book and learn on your own.
21. Take up a sport - bowling, tennis, rock climbing, fishing, hiking, _______.
22. Go hiking, camping, fishing this weekend.
23. Take a weekend or Saturday road trip. Cruise some back roads near home.
24. Become a runner (or walker) Sign up for 1 mile and 5k fun runs, and 10k races. Work up to half marathons, marathons and ultra marathons or just do 5k races to get that t-shirt!
25. Change jobs.
26. Have a mini adventure. Find a zip line, go canoeing or kayaking, hang glide, bicycle road trip, sky dive, snorkel, dirt bike, go hunting, race a go-cart, ski, hot air ballooning, fly kites, __________.
27. Did you and your spouse enjoy dancing before you were married but haven’t gone in years? What are you waiting for? Go this weekend and once a month go to a different place.
What are your suggestions?
One last word. This list feels paltry. I ran across a neat website you should check out.
http://www.notsoboringlife.com/list-of-hobbies/
A hobby is a great way to inject some adventure into your life. This site lists 308 hobbies! In the comments, people have mentioned even more!
PS: Two of the greatest gifts you can give your kids (or nieces, nephews, etc.) are the memories and confidence of adventuring with you!
Want to read some great adventures? Fight bad guys and monsters? Ride with Vic Challenger!
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Thanks for reading!
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