On Being the Bride of Adventure

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve gone on adventures. Early on in my career as an adventurer, though I was mostly confined to my backyard, I always searched for ways to feel its surge– that out of body happiness that I felt each time I experienced a new place or thing. Whether it was something simple like going on a walk or playing a new game with my siblings, or something ambitious like building a house out of sticks and stubbornly sleeping in it, I was chasing the same feeling of intense life. One of my earliest memories of adventure took place when I was about five or so. Undoubtedly inspired by the movies I watched, I packed up my favorite stuffed animals in a blanket, tied the bundle to a stick, and left home. Though I only got about three houses away before returning, head down with embarrassment, I knew it then: I was a runaway for life. Nearly every night, I’d stay up late making bucket lists and drawing up plans for my next escapade before unconsciously continuing them in my sleep. I was perpetually plotting the way to best seize the next day, which I still find myself doing all of these years later. 

When I have a particularly bad or mundane day, which, as a stressed-out high schooler, is often, I daydream of the journeys to come as a way to lift my deflated spirits instead of wasting my time scrolling social media. Adventure consumes my waking thoughts, as well as my dreams. I stir in my sleep months before a big trip, reeling in the excitement of uncertainty. But I don’t only picture the places I plan to travel to someday, but also simpler adventures like hiking new trails only an hour away or the long walks with my best friends that lack a particular destination. These experiences are often the most special because they are small thrills amidst an ever-spinning world.

Surprisingly, I haven’t done many things that most would consider foundations for a life of adventure. I was sixteen the first time I ever left the state that I was born in and have only left the country three times in my whole life. Despite my lack of exposure to travel, I am certainly not deprived of adventuring for I have explored every corner of the world I’ve so far seen or invented it for myself. Besides, adventure takes on many different meanings in my life– so it is not limited to the experience of a new place. I love meeting new people, getting lost in books, and storytelling. They each transport me into another world and add new layers to my story and outlook on life. Sometimes, if I’m not careful, I’ll become completely absorbed in a book I'm reading or story I’m writing– even in a person. Nevertheless, I believe that getting so caught up in something that I lose a sense of time or direction is the only way to truly live.

I am someone who thrives on spontaneity and chance – I cannot be confined to a predictable lifestyle for too long. Honestly, I have some pretty serious fleeting tendencies – I frequently try to escape my life even if for only short periods of time. I wait for the days when  the world will again change me, sweep me off of my feet – and so, I take risks almost every day. My ceaseless wandering and enterprise worries my family, leaves them wondering about my whereabouts and the passions I pursue. Luckily, by now, they’re acquainted with my restless disposition, my undeniable hunger for life. It’s not like anyone could stop me if they tried – I listen to my heart over any attempts at reason. No matter how much I stray, however, I remain loyal to myself, my ambitions, and, most importantly, the people whom I love cosmically, regardless of where I am in the world. Forgetting these things, taking love for granted, does not make one an adventurer, but a veritable vagabond. 

Another reason that I am so obsessed with adventures is because I never forget them. I am extremely detail oriented, though not in a perfectionist way. Rather, I live life through them. Even what may seem like triviality at the moment ends up making up the mosaic of a memory in my mind. I remember how beautiful my friends looked as we waded through an icy cold creek we found in the springtime and how the first concert I went to felt before my eyes and ears. Consequently, people are often surprised at how much I am able to remember about the past and shocked at the many stories I can zealously recount – but I believe that without being able to reminisce over the details of a story, it would simply go unremembered, which I cannot stand for. I hold my memories close because they drive me on to my next adventures and remind me of how temporary every moment truly is. I’ll always look to the past in hopes for the future. Besides, at the end of my life, I won’t have to think back with regret at missed opportunities but will replay the stories in my head a thousand times over.

I believe in being the “bride of adventure”, as Anne of Green Gables would say, because, without my adventurous spirit, I am absolutely nothing. Whether it be a solo pursuit through an unknown world or a bonding experience with another, it will always be the cornerstone of my personality and key to my open mind of the world. Seek new experiences, get lost, and romanticize every moment, and you’ll never be bored again.