I have a bucket list a mile long of places I would love to travel to around the world. From tropical beaches to famous cities, and Amazon rain forests to historic landmarks, there are breathtaking sites to see around the globe. An unlimited amount of awesome adventures are out there to experience. I want to go skydiving over the ocean and backpacking through the mountains of a foreign country. I would love to swim with dolphins and explore new cities. My adventurous side craves to make exotic travel plans filled with these once-in-a-lifetime experiences that promise life-fulfilling memories. But the reality is that most of our lives don’t allow us the leeway with finances and time to go out and experience the world as we wish we could.
The problem is that I get restless. I need the adventure aspect present in my everyday life. Don’t get me wrong, I can chill out and watch an episode or two on Netflix, but you won’t catch me sitting there all day. You will very quickly get tired of hearing me complain, “Let’s go do something,” because I’m ready for an adventure.
While the world offers an abundance of amazing experiences to be had, we forget to see all the opportunities for adventure we have right in our backyards. Many of my favorite memories are of adventures I experienced with others. From going on a night-long walks through my hometown with great friends to driving around chasing a sunset, the best times can be had right at home with the right people and a sense of exploration.
Usually great friends plus spur-of-the-moment (generally a little crazy) ideas add up to a perfect adventure. Sometimes it may not be the best idea to be out late on a school night, but when a 20-minute homework break turns into a three-hour detour, it can become a fantastic adventure. I can remember the nights filled with uncontrollable laughing going on walks just to get lost or the decisions to go swimming when the water is far from warm and your parents were not expecting you home late with dripping hair. Random Walmart runs, picking up friends just to drive around for an hour, going bowling on a Wednesday, just getting out of the house to go do something with people who mean the world to you: this is where you’ll find a great adventure. Unplugged from electronics, these undocumented, random experiences become the best times. The greatest adventures in my memory are the little things that all add up to stories of the best times with even better people.
Of course we have priorities in our lives and work to be done, but with my free time, I want to be out adventuring. Although I hope to start crossing places off my bucket list as I get opportunities to travel, for now I’m satisfied with the adventures to be had that allow me to go home at night and sleep in my own bed. I can fall asleep knowing that with the right friends and an ever-exploring mindset, another adventure can be stirred up for tomorrow.
