Adventure (n): an exciting or unusual experience; a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome.
Life is an adventure. Life is an exciting and unusual experience. Life should be a bold undertaking, and it definitely has an uncertain outcome. The beautiful thing is that because everyone is unique, we all get to live our own adventures. I love to go on adventures! But what does it really mean to “go on an adventure”? The beauty of the word adventure is that it can mean almost whatever it needs to in order to fit your life.
For me, I love to travel to new, even unusual places. I love to “be bold” by doing things that scare me and doing my best to live life with no regrets. In fact, thanks to a good friend and mentor, I often even make decisions by asking myself, “What would I regret not doing?”; if I realize there’s something I may regret not doing later on, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.
An easy example of this is when my friend asked me to go to Barcelona with her last month. Of course I wanted to, but I was unsure for awhile if things would work out–the time I’d need to go, what I’d miss while I was away, financial expenses of the trip, etc. But what would I regret not doing–going on the trip or not going on the trip? The answer was obvious to me: I would regret not going on the trip with her more than I would regret going, so I did what I needed to do to make it happen. (I actually went for that week in Barcelona and even extended my trip two and a half more weeks because why not?! But I’ll save those adventures for future posts 🙂 )
Not all decisions are quite this easy, but by asking that simple question and thinking through the probable outcomes of both/all choices, it helps you to thoroughly process the choices in a deeper, more thoughtful way. Often times the decisions that are out of your comfort zone, scare you, and/or force you to question your future end up being the beginning of your adventure.
What do you think of when you hear the word adventure–do you think of climbing a mountain? Traveling somewhere new? Starting a new job? Moving?
What are things that are exciting or unusual for you? Bold, even risky, with an uncertain outcome?
Comment your thoughts below.