As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase something through an affiliate link on this page, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Many people feel like they live a boring life. Wake up, go to work, come home, eat, sit on your phone, sleep. Before I got married, I lived some variation of that. I longed for the weekend when I could do whatever I wanted, which, it turns out, was not much of anything. Sometimes I’d wish that something bad would happen just so life would be interesting.
Now that I’m a mother, my children keep me occupied, but I still sympathize with the longing for adventure, the wish for a break from the daily routine.
When I speak of “Adventure”, I mean a journey – mental or physical – during which things happen that change the person experiencing it or reveals things about the person to themself. Nowadays, it can be harder to find because modern conveniences prevent us from experiencing many of the hardships that our ancestors did. We can experience bits and pieces of adventure through the random whims of fate, but most likely we will have to seek it ourselves if we want variation in our daily lives.
Adventure consists of three ingredients:
- A goal to work towards (ANYTHING you’ve never done before)
- An element of interest, fear, or anticipation for what is about to happen (which means you are heading into the unknown where adventure lies)
- A reason to do it (even if that reason is simply to avoid boredom)
You will return from a successful journey with new stories and a deeper understanding of yourself and how you react to different situations. Below I’ve listed some ideas to add adventure to your life.
1. Do something challenging.
Don’t tell me that this idea won’t work for you! It could be literally anything: run a mile every day for a week; read a difficult book; do a good deed for someone daily for a month; train to climb Mount Everest. I’m guessing you already have an idea or two in the back of your mind of something you’d like to do. Lean into your interest and take the first step because that’s all that this idea requires. Nothing will engage you quite like being a bit uncomfortable.
I took on a challenge in 2023. Two of my cousins and I decided to hike the Superior Hiking Trail, which is 310 miles along the North shore of Minnesota. I trained all spring and summer, hiking longer and longer distances carrying my baby and some weights in an Osprey baby carrier backpack. That fall, the three of us and my baby embarked on our hike, which we figured would take thirty days.
Beginner spring training on snowshoes.
I lasted three days. After packing up camp in the mornings, we would hike nonstop until just before nightfall except for very short breaks and a longer lunchtime. The terrain was much hillier than I had trained for, so we did 5 miles a day instead of the 10 we thought we could easily accomplish. It was also tougher than I anticipated because I had trained with 45 lbs on my back, but on the actual hike with my pack, my gear, and my baby, I carried 65 lbs. I was the most dehydrated I’ve ever been. The first two days there was nowhere to wash up, so I crawled into my sleeping bag at night trying to breathe through my mouth. My daughter did well the first two days, but by the third she was understandably tired of being in the pack. When my sister came to pick her up at the end of the third day, I quit too.
I lasted three days. After packing up camp in the mornings, we would hike nonstop until just before nightfall except for very short breaks and a longer lunchtime. The terrain was much hillier than I had trained for, so we did 5 miles a day instead of the 10 we thought we could easily accomplish. It was also tougher than I anticipated because I had trained with 45 lbs on my back, but on the actual hike with my pack, my gear, and my baby, I carried 65 lbs. I was the most dehydrated I’ve ever been. The first two days there was nowhere to wash up, so I crawled into my sleeping bag at night trying to breathe through my mouth. My daughter did well the first two days, but by the third she was understandably tired of being in the pack. When my sister came to pick her up at the end of the third day, I quit too.
I didn’t accomplish my goal with that challenge, but it was an adventure. At the time, it felt brutal because it was way tougher than I thought it would be and I hated not being able to bathe after exercising, but it was a new experience. I learned that I shouldn’t bring a baby on a hike that is longer than a weekend. That I need to be better prepared in terms of training with enough weight. That I should air out my clothes at night rather than packing them up, sweat and all. That I need to plan for the type of terrain on which I’ll be hiking.
But I also learned that I can do tough things. I hiked fifteen miles over hills in three days carrying half my body weight. I camped for two nights with a baby in strange woods with weird noises. I trained diligently for months and reaped the benefits of it. Though I failed to reach my goal, I look back on the experience as a positive one, and if I do something similar someday I will be better prepared to succeed.
2. Learn a new skill or hobby.
Learning a new skill or hobby is a flexible way to bring a spark of adventure to your life because it introduces novelty even to a busy day. You don’t have to jaunt across the world for a year. You don’t have to spend obscene amounts of money. But you will have something interesting to look forward to amid all the routine.
In the beginning of the learning process you may fail miserably, but when you put effort into an activity you find meaningful, you will change as a person. You may find strengths or weaknesses you didn’t know you had. You may find that you aren’t actually interested in the subject you picked. Depending on the activity, you may meet new people. No matter what happens, something new is happening in your life and that’s the definition of adventure, isn’t it?
So far, I have included this in my life by learning to crochet. It’s something I already had an interest in, and I know experienced people who I can ask for advice. It can be fairly cheap (although like any hobby you can make it as expensive as you wish!), and learning it is accessible because there are countless books, blogs, and YouTube videos on the topic.
If you can’t think of something you’d like to dive into, pick a skill that someone else has that you’re jealous of. Jealousy reveals your interest in that particular thing, and there’s no better way to get over it than personal improvement in that area!
3. Having children!
I’m hesitant to include this topic because it requires a lot more thought, preparation, and commitment than any challenge or hobby. I think I need to include it, though, because nothing has changed my life more, revealed my personal qualities more, or felt like more of an adventure.
When you think “Adventure”, family life is probably not the first thing you picture. Hear me out! Once you have children, the stakes in your life could not be higher. Your child’s existence changes your life forever, and whatever they do and whatever happens to them will affect you (good and bad, like any other adventure).
As much as you might research, you will have no idea what you’re getting into. You’re caring for someone who is constantly changing, which draws things out of your personality that were previously dormant. Your child is a person in their own right, and you will watch them grow with only a small amount of control over who they become. Like any adventure, there is risk; there are unknowns. There will be tough times, but there is the possibility of experiencing the sweetest relationships of your life.
I have experienced this myself! Like I said before, ever since I gave birth I no longer have the time to be bored. No day is the same with my children around even as we go through our usual routine because they are always saying or doing new things. Parenting has forced me to become less selfish and more flexible with how I organize my day and my home. The hardships of being a parent have been especially valuable to me because they have forced me to see that I need to work on being more patient, or that I should be more understanding and helpful to other parents now that I know what it’s like. The changes are endless.
While having children can be the greatest adventure, and the one that hits closest to the heart, it needs to be taken seriously. Once your child is born, their needs come first. There’s a difference between voluntarily introducing new things or challenges into your own life for a bit of novelty vs. bringing hardship to a vulnerable child because you aren’t being responsible and prepared. Part of the adventure of being a parent is that you don’t know what will happen or how you will respond to different aspects of parenthood, so you should do what you can to prepare to the best of your ability.
When planning an adventure, consider including other people. In my experience, it’s more fun to do things with someone; you’ll be able to enjoy the good times together and help each other through the bad. My Superior Hiking Trail hike is a good example because it’s something I wouldn’t have dared to attempt alone, but with friends it was conceivable. Raising a family is another example of how rewarding this concept can be because you are taking on life together. Even when trying something smaller like a new hobby, it could be fun to learn from someone or with someone. Like the quote by Christopher McCandless from the book Into the Wild, “Happiness isn’t real unless it is shared.”
Is there anything that has been in the back of your mind that you’ve been wanting to try? I would say, “Go for it!” It may have been crazy to attempt a 310 mile hike with a baby, but it added interest to my life for months. Since then, the smaller projects I’ve been working on have kept me captivated even though my life can be pretty routine. Adventure has yet to find me, so I’ve decided to seek it.
-Madelyn