I was recently featured in an article by Parade.com about how to live a more adventurous life.

You can read it here.

Why is it important to add adventure to your life?

It’s beneficial to add adventure to your life because, as it’s been said many times, ‘variety is the spice of life.’ Adventure not only adds an adrenaline rush, which helps us feel excited, it also offers us an opportunity to think differently and see ourselves as greater than our fears.

Adventures don’t have to be grandiose challenges like hiking Everest, they can be as simple as driving down a new road, going to a new city, taking a vacation without any predetermined plans. Adventures, in short, are any activities outside of your comfort zone.

The brain loves a new challenge. You’ve probably felt it when you’ve been really engaged in learning a new task or idea…when you’re finished, you might feel like your whole head is buzzing.

If you don’t provide yourself with new experiences, your brain does have the opportunity to create new neural pathways for building resilience and problem-solving skills. Why does ‘familiarity breed contempt?’ Because the familiar is BORING, your brains says, “Been there, done that. Show me something new.” It craves novelty and newness.

Adventures help us to feel more engaged and accomplished in life. We actually have to think our way through new events, which engage the development of new neural pathways.

Simply put, adventures expand not only our comfort zone, but also our sense of self and our ability to live a grander life.

What is the best way to start adding adventure to your life?

As you might guess from the Parade article, adventures do not need to be grand. They are any event or experience that takes you outside of your comfort zone to expand your sense of being alive and connected to life.

You could test out driving a different route to work, take a day-trip with the intention to get lost (your GPS can save the day), talk to a stranger in line with you…or you could go big with international travel, scuba diving, and sky-diving. And those are just a few ideas - the opportunity for adventure is abundant!

If you’re hesitant, it’s OK to start with small steps to build your confidence.

As you take on bigger adventures, you may notice your sense of hesitation grows just a bit as well. This is normal and you can overcome it by asking yourself, “Who will I be after this experience?”

There is no ‘best’ way to begin…there is only beginning. You can’t do this wrong…just choose to begin. The adventure isn’t just about the experience of the event, it’s about who you will become from the experience — looking at it that way, there are only possibilities for growth from any action that you choose.

How will you begin?