Dear friend,
When I was a kid, I always wanted to go on adventures. I would envy all the characters in my books and the ones in movies for being able to go on grand adventures and epic journeys.
I wonder how many kids also wished to go on an adventure too.
As I got older I began to call any trip that didn’t go according to plan an adventure, but by that definition adventures didn’t look so appealing. I stopped wanting to go on adventures for a while after that (as you can imagine).
Once I started going on trips and doing things with friends beginning in my later teen-years (cars are handy that way), I realized something.
I was going on my own kind of adventures.
Adventures are happenings that are out of the ordinary.
Sometimes they are planned.
Sometimes they aren’t.
I recommend taking both, though I’m not a doctor. However, I am a professional adventure taker. Any regularly creative person should be a professional adventure taker, too. And if they’re not, they should re-evaluate some stuff.
Because adventures are pivotal to a creative lifestyle. The way that a creative person fills themselves with new ideas is with new experiences, and the best way to do that is through adventure.
Some seasons of life are adventures in and of themselves.
Like the time I moved to a new state by myself and joined an apprenticeship. Or the time I had four different jobs in one year.
Other seasons are boring.
Those are the times you have to plan adventures for yourself.
Go to a museum, they usually aren’t expensive and you can find them everywhere. They’re a great afternoon adventure.
Taking a hike on a trail you’ve never been to, or walking in another city’s downtown counts too.
Or going to the county fair and seeing an event that you wouldn’t normally watch (like I did this fall; we saw the rough trucks event).
Going camping with a friend for a weekend can be a blast. One time I drove six hours with a friend for a camping trip in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Sometimes adventures can be as small as trying a flavor of ice cream you don’t think you’ll actually like (one time I tried Superman ice cream; I don’t recommend).
Plan an adventure this week and then let me know how it goes in the comments!
Sincerely,
R. J. Catlin
