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Adventure – an exciting or remarkable experience

Adventure is what ever you want it to be. Whatever sets your soul on fire! Whatever leaves you feeling overwhelmed with joy! This can be a trip to the mountains, a new city, an amusement park, going out to dinner, going to a sporting event, literally anything that gets you out of everyday life and makes you happy!

I am a firm believer that life is just one big adventure and if you aren’t doing things that make you happy, then you aren’t living your life to the fullest. I am also a firm believer that adventures should happen and they should happen often! This is why I try to do something adventurous or different than just ordinary things every weekend. Sometimes this doesn’t happen because life just gets in the way.

Sometimes it can be really hard to pull yourself away from work or chores or getting things done. A lot of times I hear the excuse, “I just have way too much to do right now. I’ll do it when I have time.” Well, pretty soon there will be no more time and you will have wished you did the things you wanted to do. Trust me, I have been there. I have used every excuse in the book: money, work, kids, chores, cleaning, blah blah blah!

My husband is a very big reason why we take so many adventures. I was always the one saying, “But the laundry won’t get done.” Or “The house is already such a wreck.” It took me some time to realize that those things are not as important to me as doing the things I love to do. Don’t get me wrong, I still have to make time for not so fun tasks, I just know that I can’t let them rule my life.

When I take adventures, no matter how small, I have realized four reason that make them so important.

Rejuvenates You

I’m not sure about you, but when I take an adventure, I feel rejuvenated afterwards. I am typically far more happy, way less stressed, and all around more positive about things I have to do. Even when my list of chores is out of control, taking a couple of hours to go to the mountains or going to the park with my kids makes me feel ten times more motivated to get those tasks done. It is as if adventure rejuvenates your soul and puts into perspective what is important.

One thing I would recommend when going on an adventure: Put your phone away! It’s great when we hit that certain point in the mountains where our cell phone’s don’t work anymore. I spend quite a lot of time on my phone, but not when I am in the mountains and it feels great! If you think your phone is too much of a distraction, just put it in airplane mode! Putting your phone away or on airplane mode will allow you to enjoy the moment more and get you away from the every day tasks that you’re trying to get away from in the first place.

Helps With Memory and Time

Having more adventures can actually help with your memory! Your mind tends to hang on to pleasant memories and loves to relive them! Remember all those wonderful summers where you did whatever you wanted and everyday was filled with fun? That’s because they are pleasant memories that made you happy.

Now, have you ever driven home from work and realized you don’t even remember the drive? That’s because this is an everyday task and your body and mind place themselves on auto pilot while doing them. The more your life becomes repetitive tasks, the less your mind thinks it needs to remember. This means that time actually seems to be going faster. Those summers as a child seemed to last forever because your mind was remembering all the wonderful memories, while now our mind skips over the repetitive tasks that fill our day.

This is an issue that I have seen for myself time and time again. I am a tax accountant and even in my job, my tasks are the same month after month. There is very little variation in my day to day life until I get off work, and even then a lot of my home tasks are repetitive. I started noticing small pieces of my day unaccounted for. Like I couldn’t remember what pajama’s I put on my son at night. While these are small things, I still don’t like the idea of my life being so much on auto pilot that pieces of it are slipping away.

Much Needed Family Time/ Self-Care Time

Weeks get really hectic! Both my husband and I work during the day and then typically our evenings are filled with getting dinner on the table, picking up, dishes, laundry, and before you know it, it’s bed time for the kiddos. On top of that, my husband works out of town quite a bit so without his help, my weeks are even more hectic. Because our lives are so crazy during the week, I really cherish the adventures we get to take as a family. Creating happy memories with my children is far more important to me than spending the weekend cleaning my house.

Something I do not do often is take adventures by myself, but it has been something that I have been interested in. The thought of hiking by myself (okay with my dog!) has really been on my mind a lot lately! I think taking adventures by yourself should be something people do more regularly, especially for moms who rarely have a break from their children. Even if it’s just taking yourself to the spa or going out to eat by yourself. There is great power in doing things alone and finding yourself.

Gives You Something To Look Forward To

There is no doubt that everyone loves a Friday because it is the last day of the work week and people get to go home and have some fun! Same thing happens when you have a vacation planned. You get through the weeks by telling yourself, “Only one more week and I’ll be on a plane out of here!” When you have adventures planned, they give you something to look forward to which can lead to a better mindset.

Some people tend to have very spontaneous adventures. I am not one of those people. I am a planner to my core and I really like when things go according to plan. Even if I don’t know what I want to do yet, it makes me feel better to tell my husband “Hey, don’t make any plans for Saturday because we are doing something, I just don’t know what yet.” Even just having the sense of doing something, rather than nothing on a Saturday makes me excited! When I am excited about weekend plans, it just makes my week more enjoyable.

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Adventures have become a way of life for my family and I. I encourage everyone to get out there and go do something that makes you happy! Stop making excuses for why you can’t have them and just go for it! Trust me there is a work around for every excuse. I guarantee you when you start making things that make you happy a priority, your life will drastically change!