Last month I made an empowering decision. I was mid-air, somewhere between Dubai and Singapore, when I decided my adventurous experiences did not need to halt as soon as I landed back in the world of ‘reality’. I decided I would take my thrill-seeking, proactive, life-loving travel attitude and paint my everyday life with the bright colours of wanderlust.
But here I am, a month after returning home, and my life resembles something very similar to the one I left before my travels. Granted, I have taken a more smiley approach to the stresses of life and work, I work slightly fewer hours and spend more time daydreaming, but I have not ventured into the wilderness or ridden atop a moving vehicle. I haven’t sat in a room full of people speaking a foreign language or spent time in echoing quiet while I write and think. With this realisation, I began to hand myself little excuses: I have just moved house; I have been busy at work; I have had a cold….
No, nope, I don’t think so. These minor hiccups still don’t excuse the back-to-reality rut that I seem to have slumped into. So, it is with nostalgic enthusiasm and the desire to rebel the norms of my non-travel life that I set myself the following challenges.
- Sit on the grass in the sun and watch the clouds
- Climb something
- Eat something that sounds like it should be disgusting
- Learn a phrase a week in a foreign language
- Read the history of a local treasure
- Get lost to find something unexpected (this one won’t be hard)
- Spend some time wandering aimlessly with a camera in hand
- Strike up a conversation with a stranger
- Sit somewhere quiet and do nothing else
- Take a train somewhere new and foreign
And while I am listing challenges and spruiking the pleasures of a travel adventure passed, I will acknowledge my bordering-on-self-help- book tone and propose that you also take up these ten challenges.
You see, I have this crazy theory… if more people take more time to do the fun things they never do (just ‘cus), we would see more smiles, hear more interesting anecdotes at parties and feel a little less confined by everyday life. Let me know what you think.
Nic Freeman 
I agree! It’s like how some people only keep a journal when they travel, as though those are the only events in their life worth recording. Holding onto that longing for experiences of quiet awe is really important. Keep me updated.
I like this plan lady!
Can I join you on maybe one or 2? (the sun and clouds one sounds fab!, even to an albino like me!) Just one small suggestion – maybe don’t do number 8 and 10 at the same time. Strangers on public transport are best to be avoided!!
xx
Well, you just taught me a new word — spruik. Look out, Scrabble partners!
This is such a great point. At home, we fall right back into ruts and routines, driving or walking the same routes because they’re known and familiar….then wonder why we’re so booooored and dull. When we travel, by definition, we’re there to explore, and so we do.
I recently (after 22 years of living in a NYC suburb) visited a part of Brooklyn (about 30 miles away) I’d never been to. I got lost (!), took the wrong bridge, turned up a 1-way street right in front of a cop (!) and it was a ton of fun. It made me vow to do a lot more of this.