TIME FOR A NEW ADVENTURE

As Eleanor Roosevelt once stated, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for a newer and richer experience.”  In other words, we grow and become our best selves when we take advantage of new adventures. How often do we try something new?

Apparently, from what I’ve read, research suggests that we’re wired to choose the familiar. Why would we want to seek new adventures when we’re comfortable with what we’re doing? In fact, even when we get that little inkling to try something new, our minds quickly shut it down. According to a recent survey,  many people can’t remember the last time they attempted to give a new adventure a try.

But aren’t new experiences at the top of most of our bucket lists? I can remember how we launched into many different adventures whether it was decades ago when we set off on a working holiday around Australia  or when we traveled to Queensland to look after a Quarter horse stud while the owners went on holiday. One BIG adventure was when we moved from one state to another with ten horses, two cats and two dogs! What about when I decided to write a novel! Also, travelling overseas alone to the USA in the 1990s to meet two wonderful people to whom I faxed letters for years. Back in those days travel was very different to now. Also, a fabulous trip with a friend to Europe.

From my experience sharing an adventure with someone special makes it far more enjoyable. This is backed up by several articles and a study published in the journal Psychological Science that found those who engaged in any positive activity with a friend or partner experienced increased enjoyment.

Could it be time to begin ticking off items on your wish-list and think about possible adventures? Apparently, people who partake in an assortment of experiences are more likely to retain positive feelings than people who have fewer experiences. When you think about it, even the littlest experience can have an impact on our joyful moments, like a spontaneous laugh with a loved one or an encounter with a magnificent Arabian stallion.

Further to this, I remember in the past how breeders visited each other. It seems that these days people don’t actually get out and actually visit with fellow Arabian horse enthusiasts as much as they used to. Why? I loved sharing experiences with other breeders and viewing the beauty of their horses in the flesh. I think we’re all guilty of saying, how quickly time flies. If you think about it: how many of us just roll along from day to day only to realise that the year has almost gone. At least when we embrace new adventures, we’re interrupting our everyday flow — in the best possible way.

So, where to from here? For us a new adventure, at some stage a new place to live, changing thirty years of same, same. My writing has opened me to an ongoing adventure, even though health situations have changed the manner in which these adventures unfold. Maybe, instead of simply looking at photographs on Social Media why not plan a road trip to visit a friend, a favourite or a new place or maybe a horse stud that you’ve been longing to visit.

When it comes to Social Media I always take a deep breath and wrinkle my nose. Okay, there’s no doubt that Social Media for business can be a great tool for getting the word, and things you wish to share out there, for instance sharing my books. Hence valuable customer interactions can be initiated. But sadly the effectiveness of social media is often dampened by errors and misconceptions. And on other occasions, social media simply appears to be nothing more than a vanity meter. However, if handled correctly, social media can definitely assist customer awareness in a product i.e. my books, ones breeding programs, events etc. Plus there is the happy situation of being able to connect with others, which can sometimes be a lifeline to some.

I believe we all have the spirit of adventure or for an exciting and unusual experience. We can often participate in exciting undertakings or enterprises.
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org describes adventure as, “an exciting experience that is typically a bold, sometimes risky, undertaking. Adventures may be activities with some potential for physical danger such as travelling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting or participating in extreme sports.”
Time after time I’ve noticed if someone has an adventure, they become involved in an unusual, exciting, and a possibly dangerous journey or simply a series of events. Sounds like a great book to me!
Finally, is it time to examine our choices? Do we feel what we’re doing is the most fulfilling use of our hours? Happy adventures …