What if Every Goal was an Adventure?
Goal-setting.
We know in many areas of our life, we should do it, but here’s the thing about shoulds:
they feel like weighty obligations.
I should lose weight. I should get up early. I should do this. I should do that.
Feels oppressive, huh?
But what if every goal was an adventure?
We tend to think of adventures as a Bali surf vacation or a Himalayan hike or a Cool Thing that Happens to Someone Else.
But what if these adventures could occur right here and right now? What if they were cheap (or even free)?
And they can be. Because adventure begins and ends within the mind: a trip to Bali isn't an adventure unless our brains say so. It's neutral until we have a thought about it. Bearing that in mind, what if we had more fun with that?
In my quest to walk 3,000,000 steps this year, I discovered The Conqueror Challenge, an app where you can virtually walk any part of the world (and even Middle Earth) on designated treks.
Every day, the steps collected on your Fitbit (or Apple Watch or whatever) sync to this app and, on it, you see a little pegman amble down a pre-set path on a Google Map (with the option to see Street Views). You also get access to a Facebook community of 200,000 people strong. Yup, thousands of fake friends taking fake walks. Welcome to the future. ; )
I chose a 60-70 mile walk along the Cote d'Azur because, having been there with family, I
kind of miss it. As of this writing, I’ve walked 23.24 miles from Saint Tropez, and now I'm in a small village called Saint Raphael (though, in actuality, I'm supine on the couch).
It may seem odd that I’d be so excited to stroll-yet-not-stroll through the South of France, but again, because our minds create the meanings behind our circumstances (and they can easily create illusions), why not take advantage of that?
Once I virtually arrive in Nice, I'll pause, contemplate my journey, then collect a cool
little medal sent to me IRL in the mail. I'll then re-up and go one some more challenges.
Not only has this quest reframed how I view exercise, but walking doesn't feel like a should anymore; it feels like a can't-wait-must.
So what if we brought more adventure into our everyday? What if we had more fun? What if we abandoned the shoulds in favor of the hell-yesses?
Adventure does not have to be big and grand.
Adventure can be small and everyday.
And goals are the vehicles for them.
And if you need help inviting more adventure into your life, hit me up.