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Do you remember when you were young and your ‘world’ was as big as a 30-mile radius? It literally started in your room and spread out just wide enough to include your school, the grocery store, and the houses of a few family members and friends.
Seeing that the Earth’s radius is nearly 4 000 miles, your average travel range was pretty dang small back then, wasn’t it? But perhaps it was actually bigger than it’s ever been, even today. Back then there were no limits. You weren’t too bothered about going further out simply because you could ‘adventure’ whenever you wanted to.
If you were anything like me then a weekend would go something like this … On Friday a seed found lying on the ground became the magic bean for a beanstalk that was going to take you high enough to touch the clouds. So you sat on your mom’s old suitcase and sailed home to plant it before bed. By Saturday morning this same little seed had become a treat for your imaginary pet guinea fowl. The same guinea fowl that supposedly lived in a pink castle of sheets strewn across your room, until your mother called in a demolition team and reclaimed her bedding on Monday morning.
You could start your weekend as a seed discoverer and end it with a good night kiss from a guinea fowl in a pink castle. Life was exciting and grand back then. This is because there were no limits put on your imagination, and you could take yourself off on daily adventures. In the process, you were learning, growing, and having fun.
Now let’s fast forward to today. I’m guessing that things are fairly routine – you wake up at the same time, eat the same breakfast, catch the same train to work, do the same work all day, return to the same home, and climb into the same bed.
Sometimes you might get motivated to do something new, so you sign up for a short course, go through the coursework, and maybe even finish some of the assignments. The only ‘excitement’ here is the challenge of trying to juggle the same-ish routine and the additional workload.
Now the world is bigger and easier to access than ever before – You can get on a plane, a train, or in a car whenever you want. You can drive, fly, or travel the entire radius of the world in 80 days (probably quicker). But how big are your adventures?
When we get older we put some serious limits on our imagination and our world. We want structure and instructions – and we don’t want to think or experience anymore than that. It’s a safe space that requires very little energy or thought from us, so why venture out?
Didn’t you used to have fun in the pink castle with the guinea fowl? Yes? Then that’s exactly why!
Maybe it’s time to get out and shake things up a bit, do things in a different order, question the same-ish things, and let yourself be free to adventure again.
Here are some adventures you can try:
- Read a book you would never normally read
- Try a course you would never normally try
- Take up a new hobby or sport
- Get on a boat and float
- Do something that scares you a little
- Start a conversation with a stranger
- Get upside down – do a headstand or a cartwheel
- Try a new type of food or go to a new restaurant
- Listen to different music
- Spend time with children and go on an adventure with them
- Read a kid’s book
- Do a routine in a different order
- Walk barefoot on grass
- Take a dance class
- Take a detox bath instead of a shower
- Have a shower scrub instead of a bath
- Go hot air ballooning
- Visit a cave
- Play a board game
- Do some volunteer work
- Paint something, anything
- Kiss your boyfriend
- Watch the sun rise or set
- Make something with your hands
- Go to an amusement park
- Walk backwards
- Read poetry
Do these things with an open mind. You may find something that you really enjoy or a new way of doing things. You may confirm that you really dislike certain things. Either way, it’s perfectly okay. Don’t judge; just adventure and enjoy the experience.
Summary
Try something different. Do something different. Say something different. And you will start to experience something different.
So what adventures will you be going on?
