Life is an Adventure

Does your life feel like an adventure?  That's what my friend's life coach asked her.  If it doesn't she said, you are doing something wrong.  

My friend asked me that question and almost without thinking I answered, "Yes!"   But now I'm mulling over that question and I'm wondering, what constitutes an adventure?  Is it something big, like taking a trip, or is it simply a break in your routine, like taking a different route for your morning walk?

And if you're always off on an adventure, how do you fit in mundane chores?  If you're always rushing around from one adventure to another, how do you achieve the stillness you need to hear yourself think?  

In order for your life to be an adventure, do you have to have an adventure every day?  Or do you save the adventures for the weekend? Or do you make life choices that result in exciting opportunities for the rest of your life?

For instance, for the last few years I have been telling David that I am dying to go to Paris and spend some time there.  His response was, "Well, get a job there and lets move there for a year." What the?!  That's all it takes to uproot this family out of our little suburban cocoon? The other thought we had was to go to China to teach for a year.  Can you imagine the learning opportunities that would provide for the kids?   Now that definitely qualifies as an adventure.

Part of me wants to move to DC to capitalize on my policy analysis background, especially after this past weekend's trip.  Part of me wants to stay here and let the kids have a hometown like both David and I did.  Can we stay here and still feel like life is an adventure?  

And how do you instill this sense of adventure in your children if you don't model it yourself? This weekend I met a young man in DC who had back-packed his way through Latin and South America.  He traveled down the Amazon on a raft with four other guys and a guide.  Who does that?  Someone who has grown up knowing there is a bigger world out there.  He is from a small town in Alaska (no, not Wasilla!).  My husband back-packed through eastern Europe.  He is from a small town in Wyoming.  Maybe that is the key.  Let kids grow up in a small town and they will be hungry to learn what else is out there...TTYL.