What Makes You Come Alive? Be Adventurous! Take a Chance!
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman).
Do you hesitate to do something you easily did a few years ago but now wonder if you are up to the task? Did you used to go hiking at Heather Meadows/Artist’s Point area but now wonder if your body is capable of walking along the paths? You’ve gone to community events, but it has been with others, and now you don’t want to go by yourself? Conquer your worries and be adventurous.
What does it take to be more adventurous? A simple formula for adventure is to have the courage to overcome unknown worries and try new things and do old things that you have “stuffed away” in memories. Something new + courage = adventure! Daniel Kaufman suggests “we tend to focus more on what might go wrong – what we might lose or sacrifice – than what might go right. Because what we focus on tends to magnify in our imaginations, it causes us to misjudge (and over-estimate) the likelihood of it occurring. Yet the reality is that the risk of something not working out is often not near as high as we estimate and the odds of it working out well, are often far better.” We under estimate our ability to handle the consequences of risk.
Shake up your routine. “Because, day in, day out, we tend to follow the routine we construct for ourselves, and although that routine may be necessary, we can often become stuck to it, eating the same food, sitting in the same spot, taking the same route to work; losing all sense of spontaneity and novelty. …Adventures make us grow and laugh and learn about the world and ourselves. Go on an adventure and the landscape changes on the inside as well as the outside” (Margie Warrell).
Suggestions for how to be more adventurous!
- go for a walk around your neighborhood just after dawn
- wear a color you never usually wear
- watch a film you don't think you would enjoy
- go to a restaurant you’ve never been to before
- try making bread from scratch
- take a different route to go home
- talk to strangers or better yet, chat with WWURA members you seldom talk to at our luncheons and travelogues.
“You’ll always miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky
“A ship in a harbor is safe but that’s not why ships are built.” (John A. Shedd, 1928, quoted often by U.S Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper)
Some sources for being adventurous:
https://psychologies.co.uk/be-more-adventurous-join-30-day-challenge http://m.wikihow.com/Be-Adventurous
Music and Health (January 2013 Health Notes): find information about use of music in treating aphasia from stroke, depression and other health issues from a neurobiological aspect in Elena Mannes book, The Power of Music.