|
Autumn has always been my favorite time of year. After the hot, lazy days of summer, fall
rolls in whispering of new adventures on the horizon. Maybe it's all those years I spent in school, but I tend to think of September as the real new year.
And a new year means it's time for new explorations, plans and projects, don't you think?
Recently, however, we seem to be seeing an epidemic of what I call Adventure Deficit Disorder. The symptoms are easy to spot: lack of enthusiasm coupled with loads of self-doubt enhanced by frustration and dissatisfaction. Instead of adventure, life for many has been about accumulation. Amassing things can lead to a life of being a caretaker, instead of a creator.
While I'm not suggesting you give up all your worldly goods, I am urging you to make room for frequent soul-satisfying adventures.
So what's an adventure anyway? My favorite definition says, "an adventure is any undertaking the outcome of which cannot be known at the outset." It's the polar opposite of living with scheduled certainty. Adventure is propelled by curiosity, imagination and a willingness to be delighted by the unexpected.
You don't need a trip down the Amazon to qualify as an adventure. You do have to be an active participant in creating an adventurous life.
When my daughter Jennie was entering high school, she decided to spend the summer Becoming Cultured-and she had very specific ideas about what that meant. For starters, her summer reading did not include the usual fluff. It was time to tackle The Classics.
Becoming Cultured also meant expanding her cooking horizons. Up to that point, her kitchen repertoire was pretty much limited to some snappy French toast, but that summer Jennie decided to learn the art of French cooking. We swooned over her perfect hollandaise and fretted over the lumps in her chocolate mousse. Best of all, she demonstrated that true adventure is about expanding boundaries and horizons.
So why do so many people living in this rich, fascinating world suffer from Adventure Deficit Disorder? Fear of the unknown, years of advice to play it safe and disapproval of others has kept untold numbers of adventures from being born, but those aren't the only villains.
Author Richard Bach discovered an even more insidious adventure killer that may be lurking. "In order to live free and happily," said Bach, "you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice."
I'll be back next week with some tried and true ways of adding adventures that can have you exploring a bigger world. In the meantime, check out three of my favorite learning adventures. Pick one or two and see where they take you.
| 
