How to live a life full of adventure

An Adventure : an unusual and exciting or daring experience; synonyms: escapade, exploit, deed, feat {dictionary definition}.Sounds really fun and exciting doesn’t it? Do you want to live a life full of adventure?

Is your life an adventure or are you stuck in a rut? Has life become a bit boring? It really doesn’t have to be that way…but you might need to make just a few changes to live life with more adventure. The good news is, it’s not impossible. You definitely don’t have to stay stuck. And you certainly don’t need a spend another minute living life bored.

I truly believe that life should be lived to the full. No regrets. No holding back. If we don’t do some things that are a bit ‘out there’ for us, we will never know what may have happened if we had! I like what this man has to say :

“When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say ‘Wow, that was an adventure,’ not ‘Wow, I sure felt safe’, – Tom Preston-Werner”

So, do you want to live more adventurously with me? I dare you! Let’s be courageous together! Here are some things that will get the adventure started :

1. Say YES to good opportunities {even if you don’t feel fully prepared}

I want to cry for people when they get offered a really great opportunity – and they turn it down. Generally because of fear, thinking they’re not worthy enough, or some other excuse like ‘I don’t have time for that’, ‘I’ll never be able to do it’, ‘It’s too hard’ or some other lie they tell themselves. Yes, there’s times when an opportunity just isn’t right for us – it’s not the right time, or we really aren’t suited to it. I’m not talking about those times. I’m referring to if opportunities keep coming your way, and you immediately write yourself off as not qualified/able/available to take them, and it’s a pattern.

You might need to ask yourself why you are doing this. Are you selling yourself short? Are you afraid of failing and because of it, don’t even want to try?

Often these opportunities are a chance to live more of the life we aspire to – and we deny ourselves the excitement and satisfaction of experiencing them when we let fear stop us. Today, I dare you – next time you come across an opportunity that you would normally pass by because you think you’re not ‘good enough’, think again. Ask yourself, ‘What if I gave this a go?’. It could be applying for a job you really want. It could be asking someone out on a date :). Maybe someone gave you an opportunity to do some public speaking, or to join them on a challenging project. Say ‘yes’ and let the adventure begin!

2. Get comfortable with being outside your comfort zone

Sometimes we think that successful people accomplish more challenging things then we ever think we could because they feel comfortable doing those things. They’re just naturally immune to the fear and self-doubt we experience. Wrong! They do those things because they have learnt to ignore their fear and self-doubt – and take on the challenge anyway! And the more challenges they tried, the more their comfort zone expanded. You can do the same.

So if you want to live more adventurously, you’ll need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable! Do something that feels uncomfortable, new, not quite the ‘usual’ you. Stretch what you think are the limits of your abilities. Maybe you think you couldn’t write a book, or speak in public, or run a marathon. But that’s because right now it’s outside your comfort zone. Try it – when you get it done, it’ll become the ‘new normal’ for you.

3. Look around for new opportunities

This is taking Point #1 a step further…don’t just say ‘yes’ to opportunities that come your way, actively seek them out! This takes optimism – this takes expecting opportunities to come your way, and telling yourself beforehand that you are going to grab them with both hands! It helps to have really clear goals in your life. When you do, your brain becomes a magnet at spotting opportunities to match your goals. It’s not magic. It’s not the universe either, LOL. It’s you getting clear {and determined} about what you want, and being alert to when it appears in your pathway. Your brain is designed to show you when it’s focus is in front of you. Science has proven it. So give your brain something good to find.

4. Do something you’ve never done before

Go on an aeroplane trip on your own. Climb a mountain. Paint. Dye your hair a completely different colour or get a new style. Try a new skill. Just do something you’ve never done before. It makes life more interesting, it makes you more interesting, and it opens up your world and your mind to new possibilities and the breadth of what this world has to offer. It breaks your routine and immediately takes you out of a place of boredom and into a place of being inquisitive and excited about life again. And you may just discover a new passion,which will start a whole new adventure for you.

5. Do something slightly crazy

Just because you’re not a university student anymore, it doesn’t mean you have to stop doing crazy-for-you things. When we stop doing anything spontaneous, slightly crazy or out of the norm of our day-to-day, we start just existing instead of really living with adventure. So maybe you need to do something a little crazy. I’m not talking about the stereotypical mid-life crisis things like leaving your spouse, quitting your job with no notice or deciding to travel the world on a whim…that’s big crazy, not small crazy! And I am encouraging you to keep it moral, ethical and legal {please ;)}. But when last did you really have fun?? Like taking a tightrope lesson, or painting your face with your favourite sports teams colours when watching them play. Taking a rollercoaster ride or helicopter ride. Having a pillow fight with your kids or rolling down a hill. Sliding down the stairs on a mattress. I have a whole bucket list of fun things I want to do!

6. Get over your fear of looking stupid

Life is pretty dull if we’re constantly worried about not doing anything that might make us look a little foolish. We shouldn’t believe our own press. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously. It’s so much fun when you don’t mind looking a little stupid every now and then.

7. Stop listening to people who tell you it can’t be done

In fact, let it galvanise you into proving it can be done! As in the definition above, life is an adventure when we’re taking daring feats or engaging in exciting escapades! When we start trying to do that, there’ll be plenty of people around who’ll tell us what can or can’t be done. ‘What, are you crazy?! You want to do that??’ You want to try out a new career/start writing/buy a new house/organise a fundraiser/throw a big party – you can’t do that! If you listen to the naysayers, you won’t bother trying anything adventurous in your life.

8. Start saying ‘Why not me?’

Too many times we say, ‘I couldn’t do that’ and we stay within the limits of what we’ve accomplished before. Next time you see someone doing something you admire, and you start wishful thinking, ‘Wow, if only I could do that’, why not think to yourself, ‘Why NOT me?’. I agree. Why not you? If you practice enough, work at it enough and commit to seeing yourself doing it, why can’t it be you?

9. Start saying, ‘So what?’

Start saying ‘So what?’ whenever you mind comes up with objections that stop you from doing anything remotely daring with your life. For instance, ‘So what if it doesn’t work out? So what if I fail at it? So what if it doesn’t work?’ You’ll realise that the sun will still come up, your family will still love you, and it’s not the end of the world after all. So why not give it a go?

10. Start asking yourself different questions

So you want to write a book? Want to transition to a new career? Want to save up to buy a house? If you’re hesitating at going for it, I’m guessing you’re asking yourself all the wrong questions :

Instead of asking yourself, ‘What if I fail?’ ask yourself, ‘What if I succeed?’
Instead of asking, ‘What if it doesn’t work?’ ask yourself, ‘What if it really works?!’
Instead of asking, ‘What if I look stupid?’ ask yourself, ‘What if I look courageous?’ or ‘So what if I look stupid?’
Instead of asking, ‘What if I lose out?’ ask yourself, ‘What will I gain?’
Instead of asking, ‘How could I ever do that?’ ask yourself, ‘Why not me?’

We ask ourselves the wrong questions – and when we do, we talk ourselves out of adventure! Start asking yourself the questions that will get you taking action rather than the questions that will paralyse you into inaction.

11. Do something you’re afraid of doing

Life will never be an adventure if we never do things we’re afraid of doing. We’ll stay safe, sure, but life will be boring and dull.
So today, write down 5 things you’ve been afraid of doing and haven’t done because of that fear. Write them down right now. Now, to make it more doable for you, pick the easiest of the 5. Do it. There. Not so hard.

I hope you’ve realised by reading this that living a life of adventure has got a lot to do with our mindset (one of being open to possibilities, not problems, ready to act, and optimistic and enthusiastic). Adopt the mindset of someone who can do daring exploits and life will never stop being the adventure it can be!

See you at the next bungee jump I go to! 😉