When’s The Last Time You Went On An Adventure?

By the time you hit your late 20s, it gets hard to balance your adult responsibilities with the desire for adventure — but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Going on an adventure doesn’t have to mean traveling across the world, and even the smallest ones can expand your horizons in big ways. Here’s why you should make them a priority in your life:

1. Adventures build your confidence.We all love our daily routines, and doing what we know is easy. Chances are, adventuring gets you out of your comfort zone, and that means your confidence will skyrocket. We realize that we can do more than we thought we could, leaving us fulfilled and happy.
2. They teach you about yourself.As we go through life, we develop a list of skills that are resume-worthy: time-management, leadership, adaptability. Often these are a result of jobs we had in the past — but did you know adventuring can help you develop your skills list, too? Your adventure may teach you that, hey, you’re damn good at coming up with all of the essentials for a camping trip, or that you have a nose for sniffing out the best restaurants in a new town.
3. Adventures give you a different perspective to the outside world.Stereotyping a place, person, or a community where you have little experience is easy. Actually going there, meeting people, and experiencing everything a place has to often will likely change your perspective. Your views and attitude may be shaken up a bit, but that’s what adventures are for!
4. They make you feel loved.Self-love may surface when you realize you’re better at something than you ever thought, or that you can tackle problems without getting overwhelmed. Others may commend you for taking the leap out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. You may even inspire people to go on their own personal adventure, which brings about a whole new bout of self-love!
5. Adventures open up doors.While adventuring, you may realize a passion you never knew existed within yourself. That new-found passion may lead to a career change or whole new life adventure. You may meet and connect with people you would never have met in your comfortable circles. Who knows, you may even meet the love of your life.
6. They force you to face your fears.Whether it’s trying a new food or standing up for something you believe in, adventures make us push against the confines of our minds. They teach us to break down our self-built barriers of fear and anxiety and come out on the other side stronger.
7. Adventures help you appreciate your life.Grand adventures, like traveling to a new country, can make us yearn for home — our own beds, our own routines, our own lives. While we test the waters of uncertainty with our adventure, we often like to come back to the warm, sunny shores of personal comfort. Even if we go on a simple adventure, it makes us appreciate that we can, in fact, change our lives whenever we want. And that’s something to be happy about.
8. They’re a whole lot of fun.Let’s be real — when we go on adventures, we aren’t looking for self-love or life appreciation. While there may be several wonderful side effects from adventuring, the whole point of it is to have fun. So add adventures, whether they be big or small, to your life and enjoy the ride!