Valerie
Seeking Adventure
Countries I've visited
I climbed the corporate ladder and grabbed the proverbial “brass ring” as a jet setting corporate executive. Along the way, I decided that the pursuit of money and the pursuit of happiness are not one and the same. Unless, of course you’re fortunate enough to make bucket loads of cash and can exit the game early.
How could I be happy staring out the window at a fresh powder morning? Would I ever enjoy two day weekends without working on some report or shopping for the latest office fashions? Should I postpone all my international travel ambitions and attempt to be satisfied with two weeks of vacation? Is it possible to maintain a healthy level of fitness or a relationship with a position that was 100% travel?
The answer was NO!
In 1998 I said goodbye to Monday-Friday 9-5 grind, and I couldn’t be happier. I work 7 days on, 7 days off-- evening shift. Therefore, I have every morning free; I never miss a fresh powder morning. I’m able to hike/bike/climb/workout any morning (nice and cool in the summer). And my “weekends” last seven days long.
International trips—no problem. I get vacation time, and I’m able to take it (unlike my management positions). I'm living my ideal life -- within obvious financial constraints.
I live in Layton, Utah which is 20+ miles north of Salt Lake City. My home is about 30 minutes from Snowbasin (ski resort). There are great hiking trails and climbing routes minutes away.
My home overlooks the Great Salt Lake &
Antelope Island to the west. Directly east are the mountains. I’ve got a
back yard full of flowers that I love to walk through while the cats play
nearby. I can hop on my bicycle and pedal to anything I might need in town.
There is a paved biking/walking path in my neighborhood that winds through
woods, beside streams and around a reservoir.
Although Utah is known for it’s conservative Mormon faith, there are a lot of outdoor athletes such as myself who have relocated here. I am fortunate to have found a network of like-minded friends in the area.
At this point in my life, I'm highly focused on outdoor and athletic pursuits. I spend most of my free time training for marathons and triathlons, and not enough time exploring wilderness (which is perhaps my greatest passion). However, I would like to transition into more artistic, creative, and holistic activities in the future. Learning to play an instrument, dabbling in painting, spending time volunteering for worthy causes -- will be some of the activities I plan to enjoy later in life. I really want to become more active in the skeptical movement and start a Skeptics in the Pub group in northern Utah! Right now, however, my focus on the outdoor activities requires a huge time investment in athletic training on a daily basis.
My future plans include a lot of travel. There are so many places I’d like to see and experience. Right now my trips include bagging a peak or doing some difficult trekking. At some point I’d like to throw all my belongings in storage and wander throughout the world.
What is your definition of the word adventure? People automatically assume adventure has to be a life-threatening experience—like BASE jumping or climbing K2. I don’t believe adventure has to require physical risk. To me, adventure is just getting out of my comfort zone. Whether I’m trying an entirely new experience, or exploring a new location – adventure is an escape from the mundane daily existence.
Adventure forces us to focus on living in the current moment. Instead of the daily distractions, worry and mindlessness—for some length of time we gain a new sense of awareness. Adventure may not be life threatening, but it threatens to shift our quality of life from the mundane to the exhilarating. Even if for a moment, we can connect to what is beautiful, meaningful & real. Without adventure, the real threat is that a life may not be entirely lived.
Corporate advertising tries to convince us that consumption leads to happiness. We are encouraged to take our cues from television, movies and advertisements. At school, we learn to work within the system that will allow us (if we are lucky) to become above-average getters and spenders. The workplace reduces us to pawns in the corporate profit game. We subordinate our originality to conform to the corporate culture in an effort to maintain a steady stream of income. We read the daily news and discover job security is an illusion— witness another big round of layoffs. But since we seek that illusive stability, we suffocate our dreams and suffer the daily grind.
Adventure reconnects us with joy. It reminds us that our life is important. Yes, at any given moment something could happen—I could get hit by a car. But conversely – NOTHING might happen. And the next day nothing might happen. Nothing. Nothing followed by nothing = sleepwalking through our life.
Adventure reminds us
that we are alive, that any moment lived in awareness makes our lives worth
living. Death and other inevitabilities pale in the light of such moments.
They can occur when we take on a challenge that demands our utmost effort
and focus. Or we can experience these moments at a live concert, a local
running event, or exploring a new fork on the trail.
My ongoing love of adventure drives me to explore new places. Whether I’m trekking on an international tour or discovering a new walking trail near my home – discovering the unfamiliar demands my attention. The lure of the unknown tempts me to give up the world of the familiar. My idea of a grand adventure is simply investigating a new location. There is nothing more exciting than exiting an airport in a place I’ve not yet visited.
Traveling to areas which lack the wealth and extravagance of “developed” countries puts life into proper prospective. When visiting areas where people struggle to subsist day-to-day, our excessively consumptive lifestyle appears obscene. We buy energy drinks while they don’t have access to potable water. We have plastic surgery to enhance our appearance, while they lack basic medical care. We whine about being “depressed”, while they toil each day without producing enough to feed their family. We complain about being bored, while they plead for basic education. While Americans are distracted by television and celebrities, a large portion of the world’s population is worried about basic necessities. Some people in this world are still concerned with fundamental survival, while we complain about Starbucks prices or the distance we have to park from the mall entrance.
But I digress. Who is happier—one who rushes through each day to pay more bills, or a person who lives a simple life? Once our basic needs are met, do all these choices really enrich our lives? OK, you don’t see me selling my snowboards and sending the money to Sudan……so let’s get back to talking about adventure.
The result of adventures lived is a life of accumulated memories rather than collected items. There may be fewer material goods to show for your time spent on this earth, but you’ve gained a treasure trove of memories. Memories can’t be stolen, damaged, or otherwise ruined. Memories don’t require upkeep, storage costs, or maintenance. Memories don’t have to fit in an overhead compartment; they travel with you wherever you go. Memories don’t go out of style, become obsolete, or negatively impact the environment. Consumption has its limits, but memories can last forever.
I seek to collect experiences instead of possessions. Each adventure provides that opportunity. Although risk provides that exciting edge, being fully present in any given moment provides a lasting reward. Adventure memories may be intangible, but together they compose a life well lived.
To read an essay I wrote about travel, click here
