adventure to me

“The word adventure had gotten overused,
for me adventure starts when everything has gone wrong…
that’s when adventure begins.”
                                                             -Doug Tompkins (108 degrees South)

If you have EVER been on pintrest you see the word, adventure, and the label adventurer. I know as I look through pictures I have a deep and earnest desire to back a backpack, buy a van, and go where the wind blows. Very few people actually live that lifestyle for many reasons; you have low resources, inconsistency in places and people, and our culture has taught us that going to college and getting a job is the next step in life. We get used to "the way things should be."

We often describe travel as adventure, and maybe that's as adventurous as some people get. Going from one place to another isn't adventure.... it's stopping, going off the map, into the unknown, and taking risks.

When was the last time you took a risk?

I was talking to my aunt 2 weeks ago and she said she went on an adventure to Mexico... sortly followed by, "but i will never stay there again, they didn't have room service." I laughed cordially and smiled while thinking, "that's not adventure!"

I have never climbed a mountain and slept on a cot suspended by ropes, I have never just been in the wilderness alone, or hiked the grand canyon. But when I hear friends or people that have, a spark in my soul ignites. Going to tourist sites is fun for a moment but the crowds are rarely worth it, tour guides make me want to run away and hide, and if their is a road where I don't know where it takes me to I tend to be pulled towards the nothingness that could turn to greatness.

 I have been places and seen things that aren't sanitary and relaxing, but it's real and exciting. My adventures are normally to see people; people I have never seen, languages I don't understand, and cultures far from my own. I love to learn from people, to hear their stories and learn from our differences. These kinds of adventures have taken me to Africa, central america, and Europe. I have killed a chicken with my hands, I had picked through trash to find a families next meal, I have swept a dirt floor, planted a garden with my feet, walked through the jungle with a water jug on my head, and I have been laughed at or trying to speak a language that's not my own.

In my free time I try and find treasures in the midst of junk, I write & read, you can often find me by the lake, or on country roads covered by trees (that's where the best blackberries are), my daily adventures are little, but they are perfect in their own way.

Adventure is far from safe, but it's living fully. Someone once said, "to live or love is a risk." which is true, but it's a risk worth taking.