Adventure for the unadventurous or the busy person
Adventure is the spice of life. You need adventure in your life once in a while. Some might go so far as to say that adventure is paramount to your happiness.
I’m not talking about climbing Mount Everest, becoming an international spy or buying a Ferrari.
Those are exciting things however most of us don’t have the stomach or the moolah for THAT kind of excitement on a regular basis. So how does the average person sneak a little adventure into their life from time to time?
Definition of adventure
The first thing you need to do is change your idea of what adventure is. Once you do, adventure and excitement can be had every day because adventure is a very individual thing.
What one person finds exciting is going to be very different from what another person finds exciting. For instance, my husband thinks gardening is exciting but I don’t. A friend of mine finds skydiving exciting whereas I would just find it terrifying.
My point is that adventure doesn’t have to be death-defying and just because something is not death-defying doesn’t mean it can’t be an adventure because simply breaking from your normal routine or trying something new can be an adventure.
Want some ideas for some adventures which you can try every day?
Here is a list of 101 simple things anyone can do or try on a regular basis. While you’re at it, why not start a journal and document your new adventures? Try to do something every day for 365 days. Most importantly, make sure you make time for new adventures. It’s hard to fit in new adventures if you are bogged down with mindless chores and tasks.
- Cook a recipe you’ve never cooked before.
- Try a food you’ve never tried before.
- Apply for citizenship through descent to another country
- travel somewhere where they speak another language.
- Learn French or another language.
- Find a cause you are passionate about and get involved.
- Host a couchsurfer or become a couch surfer
- Volunteer to teach English at a community centre. I did this for a while.
- Adopt a pet- Rescue a dog or cat from an animal shelter.
- Look for a new job
- Change careers even if you don’t know what to do.
- Teach people English online
- Go volunteer abroad in exchange for free board and food. Workaway is a good place to start looking.
- Start crafting: Go to Pinterest.com and search for inspiration.
- Write a love letter to someone you love
- Set a workout goal. (lose 10 pounds, work your way up to 100 pushups etc.)
- Learn to dance a certain style, belly dancing, salsa, swing, hip hop- you choose.
- Go glamping (Glamorous Camping)
- Go geocaching with kids or friends. (need GPS enabled phone or device)
- Change your look, your haircut, hair colour etc.
- Make an entertaining answering machine message
- Learn calligraphy
- Start urban foraging.
- Go mushroom foraging like the French do.
- Find a mentor to help you do something you want to do.
- Join a mastermind group
- Downsize and sell things you no long need on eBay or on craigslist.
- Eat pancakes for dinner and or pizza for breakfast
- Learn HTML
- Build something
- Go a week without a cell phone or internet
- Learn to weld and make something useful
- Learn to play an instrument
- Learn to take beautiful pictures
- Learn to sew your own clothes
- learn to crochet or knit
- Learn to play
chess - Learn to play mahjong
- Passionately
kiss in the rain - Take a career break and do something worthwhile
- Snuggle in a hammock
- Change your eating habits and detox for a week
- Carve your names in a tree
- Learn and find constellations like the big dipper
- Take up kickboxing, tai chi or karate
- Learn to meditate
- Take up jogging
- Work at achieving the splits
- Go to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls
- Become certified at something like yoga, Zumba or scuba diving.
- Become an author: Start writing a book
- Become an internet entrepreneur
- Learn to be a better photographer
- Ride your bike to work
- Watch aeroplanes take off and land up close
- Read the entire Bible or Koran
- Learn to write with your other hand
- Visit a hookah lounge
- meditate in a temple
- solve a Rubik’s cube
- Walk through a graveyard at night
- Join a book club
- Attend local food, wine or music festivals
- Read books ( Novel idea right?)
- Make your own beer (easier than you think)
- Make your own wine
- Become a history buff of anything
- Become a connoisseur of wine
- Learn to sign
- Get a second degree by going to night college or earn it online
- Start a capsule wardrobe in a certain style, preppy, hipster, à la Française?
- Donate blood
- Learn to sing.
- Go to the circus: see the cirque du Soleil
- Go to a concert
- Call someone you haven’t heard from or spoken to in a while. Maybe even make plans to meet up with them.
- See a musical
- Watch a play
- Watch a movie in another language you are learning
- go to a drive-in theatre
- Go to a jazz bar
- Go to a karaoke bar and sing or do it at home
- Go to a museum
- Apply for a job in another country
- Have a video game competition
- learn to identify all the birds in your backyard
- Make a herb garden
- Grow your own tomatoes or veggies
- Make a terrarium
- Get a tattoo, get a French-inspired tattoo.
- Start a family
- Go skinny dipping with someone (or alone).
- Go camping and if you can’t then go camping in your backyard
- Go on a midnight bike ride with flashlights friends or family
- Get a second passport
- Take a train somewhere, anywhere
- Make Sushi
- Learn to read braille
- Take up hiking
- START A BLOG about something you are passionate about! Like I did.
- Find a penpal and write handwritten letters to each other.
Hi Anne,
I think sports are great because these days many of us tend to have exhausted minds and we just can’t shake it off. When you force yourself out of comfort zone and take a bike ride as you described or learn martial art your mind has an opportunity to rest and you experience something new at the same time. Also people who practice martial arts like karate or boxing tend to become more courageous and are more open to new experience, hence more likely to become adventurous.
Hi Annie
This is the great thing about adventures everybody has their own ideas whether they be big or small high octane or somewhat mundain. If we all had the same ideas wouldn’t life be boring.
Great post thanks lee
This is an awesome list. I also keep one of these on my computer ( I use a lot of them as date ideas).
And also agree with your stating that don’t limit your adventures to the death defying ones! You need fun stuff to do daily that can save you.. The micro adventure a la Alastair Humphrey.
Alex
How about teach a subject you have no clue on? That’s adventurous! It challenges you to think differently and I think friends will get a kick out of watching you struggle. That would be a great theater sports game.
Elmer, what a clever idea. Are you volunteering ? I would love to see my husband or any man teach ladies how to apply apply makeup.
Great list Annie! I’m going to print it out. Better yet, you should make it into a poster :)
I like that idea. Brilliant.
Ah yes, now I understand why you live in the south of France… all the skinnydipping!!
Not yet but it could be in my near future when the weather warms up. But that’s nothing compared to your escapades in a hammock.
Hi Annie,
I am new here and am thrilled by your site. I saw the interesting story you and family had. Will be jumping over to your story immediately after this to find out more.
Love these list of adventures for common folks like us. I am particular excited about your learn to, become a, and go to series of ideas.
In our first house, my wife and I painted our walls Audrey Hepburn theme. Loved it. Our daughter loves dolphin and we will be painting this theme when our new house come along.
Thank you for making life so exciting with such simple adventures in life.
Cheers
Hello there Jimmy,
I am intrigued by the Audrey Hepburn walls you speak about. I love Audrey Hepburn and William Holden too.
Do you have photos?
Tammy,
It’s so exhilerating to do new things isn’t it. i did the same thing five years ago and started kick boxing with other people who were obviously doing it for years. I was so scared but at the end of the day i was thrilled. it gave me the courage to go out and do more things that made me fearful.
I love this list! Thank you so much for sharing! I used to be terrified of trying new things because I thought people would think less of me for not being good at something, even on the first try. I am SOOOOOO over that!
One of the ways I became more adventurous in spirit is by doing things like on this list. I would do an activity a month that was outside my comfort zone: take a class because it was offered at a good time, regardless of the subject manner; accept every invitation (if available) to try different experiences; go to an Asian market and buy one thing I couldn’t identify and try it.
This has become a part of me. Last month I joined a book group full of strangers, and this past Friday I took a boxing class for the first time, surrounded by people who obviously did this on a regular basis.
I figure this will attitude will result in a multitude of stories to share at the senior center when I get older.
Thanks again for the list. I must try a few!