Adventure is a Mindset: How to Explore Every Day

Adventure is a mindset, not a place. It’s when you learn something new always and everywhere, even at the coffee shop down the road.

I am still working on cultivating an adventurous mindset, but I make progress every day. You can, too! Let’s rewind and take a look at my younger self.

I was born and raised in the US and when I was in college, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Italy. I had wanted to go to Europe for as long as I could remember and now my dream was coming true. In my 19-year-old excitement and bliss I thought all my problems would vanish once I set foot on Italian soil.

Needless to say, I was wrong. My anxieties got on the plane with me and I didn’t become a magical new person in Europe. A few months after I arrived, I realized that I had fallen into the same routine as always: worrying about my classes, over-studying, and generally failing to live in the moment. Adventure is a mindset and I . . . well, let’s just say I did not have it.

Travel is not Magic

What was my problem? I was in Italy, after all, with hundreds of fascinating locales at my fingertips. But I wasn’t willing to put time aside for adventure, because I had rarely done that back home in the United States.

I didn’t know how to take advantage of my surroundings. For example, I stood in the Colosseum and worried about my English paper. I crammed for my history midterm on the train to Pisa. Something had to change. (Hint: it was my attitude!)

All of us have different things that we hold onto and that keep us from exploration. For me, it was excessive worry about academics, and excessive worry in general. Maybe for you, it is a job or finances or fear of failure that holds you back. But whatever that thing is, you can’t let it rule your life.

You don’t magically become an adventurer when you land in a new country or drive to a new city. You become an adventurer by seeking to learn something new from every moment and every place, even if it is just the coffee shop down the road.

During my last months abroad, I did my best to relax and enjoy my European sojourn. But when I returned to the United States, there was still a long way to go. I made a deal with myself that from then on things would be different.

Changing My Mindset

Adventure is a mindset, and that means we can cultivate it. Back in the United States, I kept telling myself over and over that new experiences and everyday adventures were an important part of life. We study and work so that we can live securely. And we want to live securely so that we can relax and enjoy life.

Getting out there and enjoying the world around you shouldn’t be secondary. It should be a priority.

At that point I was living in Dallas, Texas, and so my friends and I started looking for ways to explore. We went hiking in a nearby nature preserve and attended the local Irish festival and Chinese New Year celebration. We took advantage of the theater scene in the DFW area to watch everything from absurdist plays to classic musicals.

I was still as serious about my academics as ever, but all it had taken was a slight shift in prioritization for me to be able to study and explore.

My new attitude changed the way I approached travel. That summer, I received fellowships to go back to Italy for an archaeological field school (yay ancient Romans!). Even though I had essays to write in between long days of excavation, every weekend I forced myself to go out and visit at least one place.

Once this was as simple as spending a few hours in St. Peter’s Basilica, my favorite church in Rome. Another time I took a train to see the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

Fight for Adventure

Consistency is not my strong suit, so I still relapse into worry sessions when I’m traveling. In St. Petersburg, studying Russian irregular verbs sometimes kept me from exploring the city and talking to my host family as much as I should have. I am a very work-oriented person, and it was hard to break out of those habits of “productivity”, even with the prospect of Russian palaces and cathedrals nearby.

I have to keep adjusting my attitude and fighting the temptation to yield to the ordinary. And this is why I feel confident in saying: adventure is a mindset, not a place. You train yourself for adventure every day, and if you want to be able to truly take advantage of your travels, you need to be open to the extraordinary in your everyday life.

Adventure at Home

Having an adventurous mindset doesn’t just apply to traveling. It is important even if you never leave your home city.

For me, everyday adventure means taking time to relax in the evening with an exciting book. It means making time to go to the local museum and trying new cuisine at the Moroccan restaurant down the road. It means opening up Wikipedia and figuring out exactly what the War of the Roses was. (Why do English books always mention it??)

In the bustle and/or monotony of everyday life, we too often postpone new experiences and think that we will have time to do things properly later. But if there is one thing I have learned as a graduate student, it is that there is always something else to do.

You can always find an excuse to dodge adventure. It’s time to change that and make every day an exploration and a celebration.

Remember: adventure is a mindset, not a place. And just because we are in the middle of a global pandemic does NOT mean that you have no options.

Find a way to be adventurous today

Has this post reminded you of something exciting that you have been meaning to do? Well, then, embrace an adventurous mindset and go for it.

Or are you feeling lost? Unsure how to put my advice into action? No worries. I made a list of my seven favorite ways of being adventurous WITHOUT leaving home. You can do several of these activities while finishing up household chores, exercising, etc. – perfect for all you busy people out there!

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