Adventuring at Home
When I think about adventures, I picture long haul flights and exotic beaches and new cities to explore. I think about trying new foods and having to concentrate on reading a map and foreign smells and sounds. Adventures tend to mean holidays for me, but when you think about it, why should we only have a couple of adventures a year? Shouldn't our whole lives be filled with adventures?
Recently I've been putting more time aside for adventuring at home. The thing is, you don't have to spend a few hours on the plane to get that relaxed, inspired sort of feeling you get on holiday. You can recreate it right here, in your very own town or city - who knew?!
One Sunday a couple of weeks ago Sam and I had a little adventure in the village right next to us. We found a different route to walk there, through pretty fields and over kissing gates, marvelling at all of the gorgeous countryside that is literally on our doorstep that we hadn't ever noticed. We had breakfast at a new favourite brunch spot and wandered around the gallery next door. We bought our veggies from the greengrocers that I've driven past plenty of times but never been into. We admired all of the pretty blooms that sat outside of the florist next door. We played a game of "which of these totally amazing houses will we live in when we're really rich", admiring all of the gorgeous gardens and brightly coloured front doors.
I reckon we were out of the house for a total of two hours, in a village that I drive through at least twice a week, but when we got home I felt like a fresher, sparklier version of myself, like I do when I get back from a long weekend away somewhere new. It made me realise that adventuring isn't really about going somewhere, its about adopting a different attitude to life. It's putting your phone away for a few hours and taking a different route to the one you usually would and stopping to admire the things you'd normally drive straight past. And when you think about it like that, we can all be adventurers every single day. How exciting is that?!
So if you're wondering what to do this weekend or feeling sad that you don't have any grand plans, I can wholeheartedly recommend taking yourself off for a wander, trying that cafe you've had your eye on for a while and generally soaking in your surroundings for a bit. I promise it'll make you feel like the best version of you.