It may seem surprising, but how many adventures you have is directly correlated to the thoughts floating around in your head. Your thoughts determine how you see yourself and what you think you’re capable of doing. They determine what decisions you make and how far you think you can take yourself. After all, what is an adventurous spirit more than a mindset?
However I think people who want to get more adventures often neglect this area. That’s really a shame too since these thoughts can be a powerful way to build a more adventurous life, create more excitement and do more of what you want to do. All it takes is a simple shift in the way you think about things.
Here are five thoughts to help you build that adventurous spirit.
1. Say yes to more adventures
Most people look for reasons not to do something. And really if you think about reasons not to do something, you’ll eventually find something to stop yourself. After that, talking yourself out of doing it becomes all too easy.
Get into the habit of looking for reasons to do crazy things. It’s a small, simple change of perspective, but can be powerful. Usually there are just as enough reasons to do something as not to do them. And the more of those reasons you find, the more courage and drive you build as you think about it.
2. Balance fearful thoughts
Most adventures have elements of uncertainty and fear surrounding them. That’s what makes them adventurous. This can be a major stumbling block to most people and fear about an uncertain outcome can be a huge deterrent to doing adventurous things.
It’s good to have to a balanced approach to your thinking about fear. You certainly don’t want to ignore it completely and recklessly end up in a dangerous situation. But you also don’t want fear preventing you from doing anything that has a remote chance of danger.
Try to be as realistic about the dangers as possible. Is your fear preventing you from doing something completely reckless or is the fear unjustified? In my personal experience, most adventurous activities are way safer than you realize and all the potential danger you see is all in your thoughts.
It reminds me of when I first went whitewater rafting. Our guide took ten minutes to explain all the potential dangers and what to do if something went wrong. When he started going over what to do if the raft flipped over, I started getting really nervous. In the end, all my fear was just that – fear. It was completely safe and I had a fun, adventurous time.
3. Seek out risks, the new and the unknown
Adventurous people have a mindset that teaches them to seek out new things that push themselves outside of their comfort zone. Taking risks and trying new things can be scary since you don’t know what is going to happen, but that’s where you need to go. You can’t have adventures without facing a little bit of the unknown.
You can’t see these as bad things to avoid, but as things to be sought out. Adventurous people look for ways to seek out things they don’t know. That’s the thrill of having adventures.
4. Use regret to your advantage
Regret is an unpleasant thought. And you’d be right to try and avoid thinking about any regrets you have. However, you can use regret to your advantage to spur yourself into more interesting adventures.
Try this the next time you’re faced with a chance to do something adventurous. Imagine yourself in the future not having done that adventurous activity. Now think of all the regret you’ll have. This will give you the motivation to continue doing adventurous activities.
5. Believe in the possible
The trouble with thinking of something as “impossible” is that it is a defeatist attitude. Once you’ve labeled something as impossible to do, you’ve already decided to give up on it.
Often it really isn’t impossible. I’ve heard many people say they would love to travel, but give out endless excuses about why it would be impossible. That kind of thinking is limiting and will only hold you back from doing something adventurous.
If you think everything is impossible to do, you won’t even try. And really, most things aren’t impossible, they’re just difficult. Too many people consider too many things as being impossible to do. Turn those thoughts around and start thinking about what is possible.
Adventure Is Out There
A lot of people seem to think that adventure happens the moment you take action. But really, it’s the adventurous spirit that prompts you to take action to begin with. All it takes is a little different way of thinking to get things going. At least that will take you one step in the right direction.
photo credit: ActiveSteve
GREAT ADVICE! what’s life if you don’t take some risks! xx
Thanks, Scarlett. I’m glad you love the post!
Funny, my dad passed away a year ago and I thought of him as I was in Lake Mojave this weekend. He would have loved the chance to jump off high rocks and wakeboard to his hearts content. B/c of that, I did it and loved the adventure…sometimes avoiding regret = a bigger adventure for you!
Thanks for sharing your story, Marie. I’m sorry for your loss. It’s great though that you can turn something so sad into something positive. Avoiding regret really can mean a bigger adventure for you.
A decade ago I consciously made the decision to say yes to every invitation I received unless I was already booked (or broke). What a difference it has made! I’m constantly amazed at the number of activities I could never imagine liking that have become a regular part of my life. (I also have discovered many things that aren’t me, and I feel free to turn down future invitations for that activity.)
You are right, adventure is out there, and life is much better for taking part in it.
Hey Tammy,
I try to say yes as much as possible too. I agree that you can get some great activities and do things you probably wouldn’t do otherwise. It’s made such a difference for me.
Very nice advice Steve. Thank you. I believe everybody should read it and get into some adventure and take some risks to make their life more beautiful.
I’m glad you like it. There is something beautiful about taking risks and having adventures. Makes life worth living to me.
Steve,
An adventurous spirit i think conjures up images of people bungee jumping and skydiving. But i think you put it nicely here. Aventure is more about doing something new, different. It may seem risky but no one ever did anything great by playing it safe.
Spend a week always saying “YES” and you will be amazed at how many new and adventurous things you will do. I think there was a movie about that with Jim Carey.
ps
will you make our call on Tuesday? You had better say yes.
Annie,
I saw that movie with Jim Carey which I think was called “Yes Man”. That movie is kind of the way I look at things. Say yes to more and you’ll end up doing more crazy and fun things.
Great post, Steve. How boring is life without adventure? Adventures bring us out of comfort zone, into experiences and places and cultures we’d never touch if we just wanted to be comfortable and cozy all the time. I need adventure, that is for sure.
With the right mindset we can even make adventures out of what some people might think is mundane. Take the night I was walking home in Dahab with my Egyptian friend and his cousin. My friend wanted to buy bread, so we walked to this tiny factory in the sand where bread making was in full swing at midnight. I got to go inside and check it out, and it was unforgettably cool. Some people might look at that as an annoying, boring stop on the way home, but I thought it was just an amazing little adventure.
Hey Steve,
Nice post, and I agree entirely.
We should all be enjoying life, learning something new wherever possible and keeping that sense of adventure we all had when we were kids – why lose that?
I love the Jim Carey movie Annie mentioned – it’s a bit like that book I told you about in relation to one of your social media posts too – Dice Man (link to book in amazon) (which you should probably read if you have time (I know you have lots of time at the moment ;-)).
though I’m pretty sure you have plenty of adventurous spirit already…