I am a person who lives an incredibly structured life. I know exactly when I have class, when I have work, when I have time to eat, sleep, get homework done, and when to breathe. For a long time this lifestyle was all I needed: structure, order and routine. I would go on adventures with my friends, but only with weeks of planning to go into it. This is how it had always been, until this year specifically.

(Above is a picture of my backpack when I hit a point in the semester where I simply studied too hard, and my life started literally ripping at the seams)

I felt myself feeling stagnant, waking up on weekend mornings and not knowing what to do with myself, seeing my to do list and just having no inclination to cross any of them off. I felt myself itching to get away from campus and the stress and the work and everything, but feeling like I had no occasion to. But that's exactly when I asked myself the question:

Why do I need an occasion to get out and go on an adventure?

My advice for an adventure driven, happy life is to take advantage of every single moment you have completely to yourself, and ask yourself what it is you NEED. Sure, sometimes you have a cancelled class and your first feeling is that you need to go back to bed. When that is the case, go back to bed, because it may be what you need for your day. However, if the choice to sit and watch netflix is a choice born of complacency and routine, why waste your time doing something that won't necessarily make your life better?

Maybe next time you have a few free hours, close your eyes and ask yourself what it is you actually need? Perhaps when you sit and consider your options, you realize how many different ways you can spend this free time that you would not have expected before. Even if your life is particularly structured and you don't often have time for spontaneity, an hour of free time can be capitalized upon for a brief adventure. Even waking up a few hours earlier than you have to could create an opportunity for an experience you had not originally planned.

Does this philosophy actually work in execution?

In my opinion, yes. For example, once I had an 8 hour rehearsal scheduled to start at noon on the most beautiful day of July. Instead of wasting the morning inside, my friends and I decided to get up at 7 and be able to spend a good 4 hours outside at the beach. Why? Because this is what we needed out of that day.

Just this Saturday I woke up at 10 am with a commitment in the afternoon, and while I laid in bed I realized where I needed to be was on top of a mountain in the Shenandoah Valley where my friends and I often went to hike. Usually, I would have abandoned this plan thinking I had no one to go with and not enough time. However, by closing my eyes and realizing I needed to be there in order to experience ultimate joy out of that day, I asked no questions, got in the car, and drove there, where I could sit and enjoy the sunshine for an hour and a half, all alone on a Saturday morning.

Although it's hard to wrap your mind around the idea of adding an unplanned adventure to a jam packed schedule, once you've hit the open road you realize that nothing is more important than the spirit of exploration and discovery. Saying yes to adventure and new experiences has lead me down many unexpected roads that I will never regret. If you are wired like I am, to spend my life refusing to settle for anything but the happiest I can be, letting myself roll down the windows and getting away from everything for a while is a perfect way to achieve that happiness.