Let Adventure Be the Rule, Not the Exception, in Your Life

Hey you. Yes, you. The one staring out of your office window right now, wishing that things were different and you were doing something more exciting with your life. You, the glassy-eyed office drone perhaps dreaming of lush forests and far, wide skies and something meaningful growing deep and full-blown within you. You thirst for a little adventure, do you not? For a little change, a little fresh air and open space where your spirit can expand?

Well, here you go. You're being handed the key to that door and the password is being whispered in your ear right now: "read on." Don't tell anyone. Or maybe you should tell everyone. But be discreet. Maybe send out a coded memo, or leave a message scrawled on the bathroom mirror. You decide.

Steps

  1. Regard normal life as an adventure. We all long for the grand adventure. One like Abby Sunderland experienced. As a 16-year old, she started off to sail around the world, was shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean and wrote the book Unsinkable about her voyage. We all want bigger, farther away, more exciting. This is natural, because the majority of our lives seem mundane and repetitious.

    But try to take a slightly different view. In changing your perspective, you can begin to see adventure, even the ability to create adventure, in that very daily routine of life. While there is nothing wrong with harboring the dream of the grand adventure, in the meantime, life still remains to be lived. How do you make an adventure out of it? The rest of this article explains how to go about creating adventure from your everyday life.
  2. Take a leaf from the book of David Grayson. He wrote The Adventures of David Grayson, a story of a man who gave up his fast-paced city job and bought a farm in the New England countryside. His "adventures" consisted of morning walks through his property and all the things he noticed and smelled; his interactions with all kinds of people; the work he did; the books he read; the interesting discoveries he made simply living life. None of this involved fast cars, jet travel and exotic islands to take him away from it all. Instead, he rediscovered what his senses were telling him but that busy city life had covered up. You can do the same with every single day. It does take thinking about your habits and ways differently for your own life to take on this flavor. But most importantly, don't lose your ability to truly see things for what they are. It has long been said that familiarity breeds contempt, and it is nowhere more obvious than in the daily grind.
  3. Learn to slow down, to be aware and to notice. When was the last time you simply stared at a tree, a cloud or a flower without trying to analyze or understand, instead just being glad that they,and you, are? Notice the world around you, especially the small things you've been overlooking since childhood.
    • What odors can you smell around you right now? Can you push past the Buy a Coffee Maker, the new furniture smell and notice other less invasive odors? Is there a plant near you perhaps, or a lovely perfume lingering on the air? At lunchtime, go for a walk and smell the fragrances of the local streets, a park, the waterfront.
    • What can you see? Not just the cubicle walls and your neighboring co-workers. Can you see the sky, see across a street, or see a beautiful plant in the office? Can you see beyond what is in front of you to things that really matter to your mind?
    • What can you sense? The hum of machines, the working of other people, the vibrations of other people's thoughts?
    • What can you touch? What Photograph for Textures, patterns and surfaces around you awaken a new approach to seeing your daily seat and desk? Find something new about the usual dullness you feel confronted by.
  4. Set aside non-electronic time to begin noticing, listening, seeing. Give yourself permission to be device-free for a period of time every day. If that seems scary to you, then there's all the more reason to do it. As you get used to this time each day, cherish it and guard it.
    • Start creating boundaries around when you answer emails and phone calls. Only set aside a certain time of the day to focus on these things, allowing focused attention instead of permitting these time-thieves to distract you throughout the day. You'll be more alert and efficient. You might even get an early minute. But most of all, you'll be in charge of the Get the Most out of Technology rather than letting it run you. Adventure only starts when you're the master of your destiny.
  5. Try to look at each event, person, circumstance as something imbued with the unknown. The people around you are a Solve a Mystery Novel. They may seem dull and boring, but perhaps you seem the same to them. You may think you know them, but do you? Often impressions of people are completely wrong until you finally get to know them. And often people are trying their hardest to fit in to what seems like the appropriate daily grind look while inside they're screaming for adventure like you. Take a chance. Find out by reaching out.
  6. Make a conscious choice to shift your perspective. What makes for adventure in daily routine? Primarily it's about choosing, through the exertion of your willpower, to see things differently. Wake up and tell yourself: "Who knows what adventures this day will hold?" Even if you have to say this through clenched teeth at the beginning, make yourself say it. If you tell yourself that life can be adventurous often enough, you will begin to believe it and start to look for it everywhere.
    • Try to see life with the mind of an artist or an author. What stories can be told, what pictures can be painted, what poetry written about the sub-texts and undercurrents around you all the time? Delve in to find the mystery and bring it to light.
  7. Cultivate spontaneity. Adventure comes through spur of the moment, impromptu decisions, lack of planning and impulse. This is all about living in the now and being present. Be intentional about changing it up. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Build a fire outdoors, stay up late, and watch the stars slide across the sky.
  8. Stop scolding yourself for behaving like a child; the more you connect to that Identify Emotional Disabilities, the more you're freed up for adventure, wherever you go. Don't be afraid to look ridiculous. Climb a tree or join a child in drawing on the sidewalk. Run through a lawn sprinkler. Life's too short to worry about what people think. They're probably thinking they'd like to join you, anyway.
    • Stop berating others for "behaving like a child." When we accuse someone of being this way, we belittle the good things about childhood and assume that chasing away awe and imagination is desirable. It's not; don't destroy other people's sense of adventure either just because it seems like the "done thing."

Warnings

  • That said all the best adventure comes with a risk, so don't be scared to literally throw yourself from a plane from time to time. Adrenaline sports are easily the best ways to truly adventure into the unknown, so why not try a sport that is stupid and dangerous, it'll be fun. What's the worst that could happen?
  • Never do something life-threatening in search of adventure. To find adventure, you should understand that life is an adventure - not risk your life.

Things You'll Need

  • Journal to document your adventurousness (optional)

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