When coyotes howl outside your tent, that may be adventure. While you trudge through the wilderness with a 40-pound pack, that could be deemed adventure. While sweating like a horse as you pedal over a 12,000-foot pass, you might be living an adventure.
While you thrust your brush onto a canvas, you come face-to-face with artistic expression. Perhaps a certain knot in a macramé project renders a new kind of adventure in your life.
When howling gale force winds press your lips against your teeth while sailing into a raging storm, you face a mighty adventure. When you stand on the edge of a mountain in sub-zero temperatures before plunging into a deep powder chute, that could be called adventure.
A new step on the dance floor may find you struggling with the beat of the music. It could be defined as imaginative adventure.
But none of this is really what makes an adventure!
You might ask, “Why not? What more do I have to do to create adventure in my life?”
Adventure begins where you define it. It rolls into “being” by your actions toward your passions. When you learn how to think “adventure” in whatever passion you pursue, you learn how to live adventure. It is your willingness to struggle through it, to present yourself at the doorstep of Nature, or in front of a canvas or mountain peak. You might be a writer struggling with a plot or character. Adventure advances as you express it.
Can you think of any greater joy coming from life than living inside the “moment” of an adventure? It may be a fleeting “high,” a stranger that changes your life, an animal that delights you or even frightens you, a struggle where you triumphed, or even failed, yet you braved the challenge. Those moments present you uncommon experiences that give your life eternal expectation.
That’s adventure.
So where in your life do you find the calling of adventure that excites your soul? What “turns on” every cell in your body? What causes you to smile through your day? How do you get “there?”
It’s known as the “perfect speed.” It’s a thought pattern whereby you already know you reached your destination or dream or goal. Everything you think must be twice created: first the idea, which secondly moves into form.
For example: you desire to climb a mountain, paint a picture or learn a new dance. You must take baby steps by hanging with those who love mountain climbing. Learn from them. Start small and grow wise, grow smart and grow strong. You love art? Hang around artists. Engage a canvas, paper or clay. Discover your passion in the arts. Grow with someone who paints, sculpts or draws. Spend hours on your own works. You want to become a dancer? Hit the closest studio. Take the classes. Learn the basics. Find your music style. Soon, you’ll glide around the dance floor to the eternal joy of music and movement.
In the beginning, middle or advanced stage of your life, you remain the author and visionary of your success, your joy and your happiness.
I’m reminded of three home plate umpires who bragged how they called balls and strikes:
The first said, “I calls them as I sees them.”
The second said, “I calls them as they are.”
The third said, “They ain’t nothin’ ’til I calls them.”
Remember that the only way you “gallop” into your dreams remains your call! Charge onto the playing field with creativity, energy and courage. The rewards magnify life to your highest and best.
Frosty Wooldridge is an environmentalist, mountain climber, scuba diver, dancer, skier, writer, speaker and photographer. He has bicycled 100,000 miles on six continents and seven times across the United States. His feature articles have appeared in national and international magazines for 30 years. You can find his many books and other info at HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com