What does Adventure mean to you?

If you’ve followed either this blog, or my cycling blog (mawonavelo), you will know that I’ve recently rebranded to a new name of Be Your Adventures. And that for me, cycling is a major part of my own adventure of life.

But why did I feel that was important to change, and why now? Let me start with a definition of the word adventure

The Cambridge English Dictionary describes adventure as

“An exciting experience”

The Collins English Dictionary takes it a step further

“Adventure is excitement and willingness to do new, unusual, or rather dangerous things”

There is a theme running through these definitions, and that’s excitement. With the year that we’ve all had globally, there’s one thing that has been sadly missed in the midst of lockdowns and social distancing, and that’s excitement. For many of us we’ve missed the excitement of packing for our holidays and that feeling when the plane first touches down on foreign soils. We’ve missed the excitement of crossing the start line of a marathon surrounded by thousands of other hopefuls and racing to the finish. We’ve missed the excitement of our festivals, shows and parties. We’ve missed the excitement in the preparation for a big event. But let’s not forget, it’s not always the event itself that creates the excitement, the planning is where it starts to build.

You might think of adventure as a thing, something that you can hold, like something that you can buy in a shop. To a certain extent there’s some truth in that. After all, if you decide to take a holiday, you’ve probably purchased it’s component parts. And yet, just taking the trip does not make it an adventure. It’s the people that make a trip and adventure. That might be just you, or a group, or the people you meet along the way.

So, what IS an adventure really?

Well, an adventure can be anything you want it to be. For some people it’s jetting off to the Far East to take a trek across a country, and immersing themselves in local culture. But for others, it could be as simple as going out to buy a new bike, so they can start to enjoy their local surroundings and keep fit. The key thing though is to be excited by it. You need to own your adventures, and not be worried about anyone else’s point of view. Your personal adventures will ultimately define you.

You need to BE YOUR ADVENTURES.

Do you know what your adventure will be? If not, here are some tips to help you find out what your next adventure could be.

Get Excited

What is it that gets you excited? If you are struggling to think of anything right now, then look inside and think about what you would love to do if you had none of your personal insecurities or blockers. Have you always wanted the freedom to ride a bike, take a road trip across Europe, to walk in the Alps or swim with dolphins? Do you have a bucket list of adventures that you’d love to do, but haven’t ticked many off yet. Pick something that has the power to excite you, and at this point, don’t even consider any of the reasons that might get in the way.

Consider your resources

Make a list, of all the resources that you already have, and new resources that you might need. For example, you might already have a bike, or walking boots, or a camper van. You might have time or savings already, but you might need new clothes for the task ahead, or someone to help you train. Is your passport valid?

Consider your reasons

To remain excited about something, you need to find a personal reason or you may struggle to keep motivated when the going gets tough. One of the main reason that people fail to achieve their goals is that they don’t have a compelling enough reason to keep fighting through the difficulties.

So, if for example you want to lose weight or get fit, in itself it’s not a compelling goal. You need to understand why. What does it give you? If you couple that goal with the reasons why it’s important, then it can have unlimited power to motivate you. So it could be that you want to be able to take a trip with a friend, and raise money for a charity that you are close to. Or you want to encourage others to take on their own journey, by letting them follow yours – involving others is a really strong motivator. Maybe it’s someone else’s journey that has inspired you. Imagine then how your journey might inspire action in others. Whatever your reason make sure that it involves what your benefit is from achieving it, and you’ll find a reason to get excited every day.

Address the blockers

Now this is where things start to get difficult. It’s time to get honest. If you haven’t embarked on your adventure yet, why not? What has been stopping you?

Confidence is a massive blocker for women all around the world. So many feel that they are too fat, unfit or untalented to be able to take on their own adventures. Even if weight and fitness is an issue today, it doesn’t mean it needs to be tomorrow. That is part of the journey you take. It all starts with the first step. And yes, talent has a part to play in obtaining world records, but you don’t need talent to climb a mountain or ride a bike. What you do need is grit and determination, and that’s all down to your mindset. And the good news is, this can be learned. Better still, once your mindset changes, you will always have the knowledge that will help you in other areas of your life as well.

It’s time to create a new list, of all the reasons you tell yourself that you can’t do something. The second step is to reframe your perspective to what you want to be like instead. Your brain is hardwired to look for evidence that supports a point of view. If it can’t find evidence, then a view is considered to be false, if it can find evidence, then it believes the view to be true. Now you can use this knowledge to change your negative self talk.

Let’s take an example….

Negative self talk – I cant ride a bike, I’ll look ridiculous and everyone will laugh at me.

Reframed positivity – I can learn to ride a bike, and by doing so, I’ll start to loose weight. I can find a group of like minded riders and we can all inspire each other.

Action – Buy or borrow a suitable bike, and join a local cycling group (for example Breeze). Explain that you are a beginner and that you are nervous right now. A good group will understand, and might even suggest pairing you up with someone before hand to help you with some cycling skills.

The important thing to note in this example is that with the negative self talk, you are unlikely to ever take the action that will ensure the situation changes. Once you have taken action, then your brain has all the evidence it needs to believe the reframed positivity.

Get Excited

Yes, I know this has already been mentioned, but if you’ve taken all the steps above, your excitement will be building. You will have started to take the steps towards your adventure, and you will be owning your adventures. Just remember, the adventure isn’t the event itself, but the journey that you take along the way. Life is one big adventure, so how will yours turn out?

BE YOUR ADVENTURES!

If you want to take your own adventure to the next level then I can help. Whether you just want some accountability, or formal coaching to blast through your confidence issues, and find your motivation, then contact me to discuss your next steps. We offer a range of programs suited to your own individual circumstances.

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