So you and your friends decide to plan an amanzing ADVENTURE, however, exactly what is defined as an adventure?
An adventure can be a myriad of different things to a myriad of different people. To go along with that, I also believe there can be many different perceptions and ideas on the actual meaning of adventure.After multiple thoughts and scenarios running through my mind over this definition of adventure, I have come to the conclusion that there cannot be an absolute, definite, concrete definition that can wrap a word with such meaning, emotion, and power behind it, into a one one-sentence definition. To prove my point, I just googled "definition of adventure", and I then proceeded onto the first page good ol' handy dandy google suggested to me. This online dictionary listed 8 different definitions for the one word 'adventure'. This confirms my beliefs that there cannot be just one definition to this word. We, as a society, have gotten so internet-dependent to have any answer at our fingertips, and I encourage you to ponder things on your own and have your own ideas about things other than running immediately to the internet or a dictionary, however, that is another argument for another time.
Even though I do not believe in one solid definition, I do believe that there have to be certain characteristics involved in order for it to be qualified as an adventure. An adventure has to somewhat have an element of the unknown. It also must contain a certain aspect of risk and uncomfort, as well as it must be out of one's box or comfort zone. Some argue that if you have done it before, then it cannot be considered an adventure because you already know what is going to happen so this cancels out the element of the unknown. I extremely disagree with this belief because even though you do have a sense of what "can" happen, you truly never know what "will" happen, therefore concluding that there still will be an element of the unknown.
For example, this past summer, me and my mom took an awesome trip to Maui, Hawaii. We encountered many thrilling "adventures" throughout our trip, however we had a very fortunate opportunity to go ziplining through the valleys of the mountains on the beautiful island. We zipped down 8 lines ranging from thousands of feet above sea level to lines over 1000 feet in length. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is all while overlooking the city, the ocean, and its sealine with the other islands in the background. It truly was an amazing experience that was more unordinary than anything I have ever experienced before in my lifetime.
Now, on the other hand, this was not the first time I had ziplined. When I attended church summer camp in my childhood, I had gone ziplining on one line that was about 100 feet long that stood about 30 feet above the ground. Even though I had gone ziplining in my past, the two "adventures" couldn't have been more opposite. The adrenaline rushes were completely different, there was still a factor of the uknown, the risks were much higher, and the height was definitely intimidating, thus making me uncomfortable. The same action, however, a distinctly different adventure.
This was obviously a true, authentic adventure that I experienced. I also believe this would be an adventure to someone who has never ziplined or to someone who has ziplined, or done other high adrenaline activities. I feel like it would be an adventure to pretty much anyone who didn't do these same, exact lines routinely. For instance, I believe the workers who guided us throughout our trip, that this was a routine job for, could not qualify this as an adventure. Once someone surpasses the adrenaline rushes and it becomes routine and ordinary for them, that would make that former adventure apart of his or her "comfort zone"; Therefore eliminating the aspect of adventure. Other than that, everyone else is fair game.
In conclusion, as I stated before, an adventure can be many different things to many different people. An adventure for me, may not be considered an adventure for you and vise versa. To keep life interesting, as well as accomplishing and obtaining different experiences throughout a lifetime, I believe we should all be continuously striving for adventures to make us better, and more well-rounded human beings. So I ask you now, what will your next adventure be?
Thanks for reading my blog, I look forward to hearing your thoughts, comments, arguments or other adventures you'd like to share with me. Have a blessed day and take care.
