The Death of Adventure : Part 1

Adventure.

It is an evocative word that conjures many great images and pleasant feelings within each and every person.
 We all have a wistful desire to be that person who boldly walks of into the sunset without care of consequence and firmly follows the path of the wanderlust.

 Whether your first thought is that of the sunny summer afternoon, top down sports car flying down a long highway,a ticket booked to far away lands , a poolside margarita on  a tropical island or the joy of biting into an unknown fruit from a dusty market place stall.

  One thing is clear, excitement dwells wherever adventure resides.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why ?

Why are we so intrigued with adventure , with the unknown , with the mists of change ?

It makes no sense to me, when you place it in the context of society and yet , I too, am a slave to it's allure.

It makes no sense that it seems to me that we spend an equal amount of time seeking out normality and structure within our lives. We want that soft and safe feeling of security that we feel only a planned existence can provide.

We work each and every day , with grumbles and gripes, to stockpile resources for that "rainy day". At work and in careers we play the "long game" , worried more about our futures than the pain or sacrifice we are making in the present.

 We surround ourselves with the known, with the safe , with the contained and micro managed, seeking to control all within our lives as though this will give us security or some sense of fulfillment.

And , worse so, we teach our children that they need to be "mature"; in truth we ourselves do not know what that even means , let alone do we reflect that in our lives.


We do all this, EVEN though we KNOW that safety and security come a distant second to adventure in terms of life happiness.

As though happiness is an EQUATION, that is simply solved with today's modern conveniences !!

THINK about it, tell me I am wrong ?

What are your happiest memories? What were you doing, where were you ?

I am certain that filling in tax returns, paying bills, doing grocery shopping, mowing the lawns or washing the car would not be those moments.

BUT

We FILL our lives with these actions that DO NOT make us happy, and then we COMPLAIN that we are not happy.

HAH !!!

We are called evolved , but how stupid can we be ?!!

Our every day Actions are the polar OPPOSITE of our everyday DREAMS, and still we somehow think that our unhappiness is not our fault.

As though it is the system, our lack of education, our socioeconomic status, societal obligations and a myriad of other excuses are the reasons we are not doing what we want to do.

And no matter what we tell our friends, families, work colleagues and spouses; when we look in the mirror we know we are lying to ourselves.

WE cannot escape the fact that it is on our own heads that our lives are as they are, no one else makes our decisions.

They are ours alone.

This is a painful realization
, to know WE caused the death of adventure in our lives.

No one else.

You.

Me.

It strikes us deep in our core with dread to know that all our best laid plans killed adventure in our lives, that we drove adventure like a leper from the village of our life with our health insurance, registrations, certifications and paid parking slots.

If you want a better life, if you want that wanderlust feeling, that joy at living each day and knowing you are living not merely existing, then what do you ?

Is all hope lost, should you succumb to being a hamster on the wheel of expectations that are not your own ?

In Part 2 I will look into some simple strategies for bring back that adventure and excitement that we all long for, no matter what age or circumstance you find yourself in.

I can promise you this because, adventure never really dies, it just gathers dust on the shelves of our life like an old childhood book we can never bear to part with.

Pick it back up, blow the dust of and reacquaint yourselves with a long lost friend.


:)

LOCKYJ