If you have children and you were to tell them that this year, you were all going to go on an Colorado adventure. They would probably laugh, snicker, and scoff at the idea. Assuming perhaps that it meant the usual trek through the hills, or a bike ride through some trails. But would you blame them if that were actually the case? Has our meaning of adventure lost its allure? Or have we simply overused the word to cover anything that is outside the norm of everyday life? Adventure once meant a daring and unusual experience that required enthusiasm from those participating. It took a bit of enterprise and planning, it also took some courage. Not that danger had to be inherent, but the possibility of danger does add to the excitement.
Now for a family trip, you would want to lessen any possibilities of danger. But precautions can be made for any form of expedition, even to the extent that you can almost alleviate any potential for trouble to arise. Countless families go rock climbing, camping, trail riding, even hunting together. All of these have some form of danger involved in their activity. However, none of those could be considered an adventure if they have done them before, especially if it is in the same area that you have always been to.
Remember that adventure must contain a few key components if it is to be adventurous. It first must be a daring and unusual experience. The daring aspect of it may be easy to cover as many activities are daring, but for it to be unusual means that you must not be familiar with it. This is hard as it leads to the second point which is that it must take a bit of planning and enterprise. This is where enthusiasm rises from, the idea of doing something you have not done before and preparing yourself to do that. This then leads into the last point which is that it must take courage. Courage doesn’t have to mean you must risk life and limb. But simply that you have the courage to try something you have yet to experience, to plan it out, and set your mind to completing it.
You can’t go on an adventure if where you are going you have already ventured. Thats why its an addition to venturing… an adventure. So when a child doesn’t feel the weekend trail ride in the mountains is as fun as it once was. It’s probably less the fact that they’re getting older and more that there is no thrill in it any more. There is no other time in life where people are more adventurous, and can possibly be so, than when they are children. They epitomize the spirit of adventure, which undoubtedly is still in all of us. We just lose touch with it as we age and fall into the routine of everyday life.
But I would assume that we all miss that care free adventurous spirit we once possessed, and would not want our children to lose theirs as well. To help avoid this, ensure that your next trip is an adventure in the purest form. Perhaps take a family friendly rafting trip to a river you have not been to, or go spelunking and explore a cave that you had not known of. If you want to keep the spirit of adventure alive in your children, you must help it to grow as anything else. Also, if you care to reawaken your own spirit, all you have to do is try.
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