Why doesn’t your life feel adventurous?
I have always had a desire to live an adventurous life. Ever since I was little, I can remember feeling this sense that my life was meant to be lived to the fullest and I didn’t want to die with regrets. I still feel that way now, I feel this deep desire to live a life that is adventurous; however, as I have gotten older, I realize how hard that truly is.
One of the reasons it can be hard to live an adventurous life is because we don’t understand what it takes to experience adventure.
For starters, let’s look at the definition of adventure. Merriam-Webster defines adventure as the following:
Adventure-
1 a: an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
2: an exciting or remarkable experience
3: an enterprise involving financial risk
Now, if you had asked me what adventure entails when I was younger, I probably would’ve described it as doing something exciting but that’s not the full picture of adventure. Adventure isn’t just about doing something exciting, it is about taking risks, experiencing something new, and not being sure how it will turn out.
As I’ve gotten older, it has become apparent to me that it is hard to live an adventurous life because adventure comes with many unknowns, challenges, problems, and obstacles. The whole point of the adventure is taking a quest into places unknown. It is following the invitation to do new and remarkable things while living with knowing it might not turn out how we expected.
If you are like me and you want to live an amazing adventure in this life then I have a few tips for you.
You must be willing to follow the ideas you have.
You don’t have to follow every idea that you have, but you better be willing to follow and act on some of them. God will give you ideas and opportunities, it is your job to act on them! (At least some of them!)
You must be willing to fail.
The challenge of living adventurously is that you don’t know how it will turn out. You could take that financial risk and it blow up in your face. You might do something you feel God has asked you to do and feel embarrassed after. You might act on something and feel disappointed with how everything turns out.
Adventure doesn’t just feel risky, if you are doing it right, it is risky.
3. You must be willing to stick with it.
Not every idea we have is worth holding onto, but a life of adventure is worth fighting for. And not just that, some ideas are worth holding onto way past what seems logical. As long as God invites us to keep going, we should.
I always wanted to live an adventurous life, but to be honest I wasn’t really prepared for what that would look like. It looks like taking action. It looks like disappointment. It looks like perseverance. It looks like risking it all. All of this leads to sometimes being super proud and sometimes being super embarrassed.
I now see that an adventurous life doesn’t feel natural to choose; in fact, it goes against my instincts to avoid difficulty. But I know that God has created me for an adventurous life and I know he has created you for an adventurous life.
If you don’t feel like your life has been an adventure, think about these three things and determine where you stopped saying yes to God.
Do you take action when you feel God has asked you to do something or he has given you an idea?
Are you willing to take the risk and stay on the course even when it scares you?
Do you stick with it when you feel disappointed and discouraged?
You were created to take an Adventure with God, don’t miss it.
And don’t forget, the Earth is waiting for you to show up. -Haley