Seek more and find value in the not yet known
ADVENTURE – it awaits from the first day you enter this world
Even the smallest things in life can turn into something unexpected
Remember the days when leaving your house for the first time on your own? How far you have gotten while growing up. What is the furthest you have been from the place you were born? It gives a rush knowing you have accomplished coming over a fear for the unknown. Whatever that might, it is up to you decide.
How do you interpret adventure? Is it connected with courage, bravery, stupidity? Life-threatening? Thrilling? Excitement and joy? Chances? Risk taking? Possibilities to grow?
We can leave everything behind and see what comes next. Some call it adventure not planning all ahead and see what goes according to plan.
Luggage or no luggage? Adventure today is forgetting your phone somewhere and having to navigate through life without your added appendix. Why have we become like this? Ask yourself and be honest.
My advice for you is to do the following instead;
“Escape the ordinary.”
Three meaningful words can have a great impact on us, with or without knowing it. Ever since I was a child I wanted to travel, see more, explore more. I wanted to live abroad, but could never really say why. It was simply something in me craving more than the ordinary. I met my husband back in October in 2002 and we have always lived abroad. That is what I wanted and ended up doing.
Growing up in Sweden traveling to exotic places was a dream. Exotic was white beach, palms and clear blue water. This came true when I met my husband. We have seen countless beautiful places in the world. Now we see them with our girls, ages 15 and 17.
But what is really adventure? The noun means “an unusual and exciting or daring experience” according to Oxford languages. The verb means “engage in daring or risky activity”.
Of course, it’s individual. As children, we look at this with different eyes. As teenagers, adventures are of a different kind. In the adult years, this changes, again. My thoughts on adventure have changed. If given the opportunity, I would undoubtedly just throw myself into the world and let fate take me where I’m going. There is a purpose to where I end up; the purpose and lessons I learn from being there. As a family, we had gotten to know each other and ourselves in a new and unexpected way.
Part of my thinking about adventures is that I want to offer our daughters different destinations to understand the appeal of there being more than just one place to visit. Places further away than Switzerland where we live we visit once. Closer destinations we can visit more often.
Worth mentioning is that adventure can be something else too. One weekend we stayed in a tree house in Alsace in France. Without electricity and a normal toilet. Everything was heavenly quiet, such inner peace and it felt like we were living in a poem. Until I was woken up by something scratching and falling down 15 cm from my head. A mouse. It turned the night around I can say. Poor thing was so scared and I didn’t sleep as well for the next few hours until the sun came up. It is also a kind of adventure and we remember this trip in a different way than expected.
Too much in life is set up according to society’s expectations and demands. An ideology that torments man. I think more people would have dared to go out on the road if it had not been that you feel forced to go with the flow. Dare to stand out and follow the desire that grows within you.
Wherever you go, go with all your heart” – Confucius.
For me, adventure is being free. Feeling like I’m making the most of the days of my life by filling them with crazy and sometimes not entirely thought-out things. Do you feel that way too? Bring out that pen, book and mind and raise the bar. Or lower it for that matter. It might be that you do too many too crazy things in life that might jeopardize your safety.
“If you don’t get lost, there’s a chance you may never be found” – Unknown.
A hunger and a need for adventure and it takes effort to stop that. Some they even feel depressed after a trip, knowing that the coming days will be the same, again and again. The longing for so much is growing and it is not to be stopped. For sure not stopped because people around you tell you to follow the same path as everyone else. It is just an ideology. Never a one-size-fits all thinking. Be your own hero. I have problems understanding why we are forced to be like everyone else? I am me!
“Life is a great adventure … accept it in such a spirit.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Spell it out; ADVENTURE. Say it out loud; ADVENTURE awaits. Have stories to tell. They are who you are. So who are you? What do you want to share with the rest of the world? Do it for your own growth.
Conclusion: dare life. Dare to live.
Stop just being in one place for too long.
Feed your mind with new insights.
Why think of this topic
It can boost your thinking about living a little crazier without having everything under control.
Three main take-aways from reflecting on this topic:
- Knowing what excites me
2. Comfort zone is to be extended
3. That life is to be lived
Questions and reflections:
1. What would it take for you to try something a friend already has tried?
2. Would people interpret you as and adventurous person?
3. Is your self-confidence related to where your boundaries for adventure are?
