The Call to Adventure

 “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – Bilbo Baggins

A dear friend of mine recently boarded a plane and literally knowing nothing about what he was doing, jetted off to Romania.  (Kudos again, mi amigo.)  Several of his first stories involving packing, airline hassles, and pre-journey jitters brought back a flood of memories from my own excursions in far off lands.  That whiff of a thrill, that mysterious beyond; it made me recall how much I love and miss it.

I can’t help but believe that everyone needs to find a way to keep that sense of adventure in their life.  For true adrenaline junkies, the thrill may come from extreme sports and the occasional skydiving trip.  For others, maybe buying different fat contented milk is all the variety in life they need.

“The call to adventure” is usually the first phase of any good hero story.  Something happens, be it a tragedy, a given quest, or a simple idea run amok, inevitably in any good tale something occurs that wakes a character out of their daily stupor and calls them to something grander.  If you are like me, you maybe wonder your entire life when your adventure is going to find you.  And again if you are impatient like me, sometimes you make your own adventure.

I don’t want to say that I intentionally seek out trouble (though it happens occasionally anyway) and I don’t want to say that ho-hum happy life leaves me discontent.  There is, however, something about the daily grind, the blah expectations in behavior and mannerisms that I simply can’t stand and often feel obligated to reject.  Some of these rejections are subtle; pushing the rules slightly here, tweaking this stereotype just a bit, removing this or that old habit completely - it all makes me feel like life is worth the effort.

The appeals of stability are undeniable, but I can't help but think that sometimes the thrills of instability are their own reward.  Not so much seeking out hardship as much as giving yourself a new challenge, a consistent inability to get too relaxed and lazy.

As a child I longed for nothing more than my own adventure story, but when I really take a moment to think about it, this is a terrible desire! Frodo Baggins, for example, faced death, misery, pain and suffering at every turn of his long journey to destroy the ring of power.  He was hunted, constantly hungry, cold, lost, and weary.  Why would this seem so appealing to me as a reader? You hear over and over again that all Frodo wants to do is go back home to his pipe and fluffy bed.  But something between all that still hooks me – there is appeal and horror in the thought of my character being tested, my resolve stretched wafer thin, my foundations challenged. There is excitement in that sense of purpose, that frightening call to something so much bigger than myself.  I know that is a huge part of why I love fantasy books and epic video games and movies.

The 'great outdoors' deserves its own chapter in this discussion. The power of nature and humility that comes in putting our own small selves in perspective with the world as a whole and the abundant miracles on the planet are staggering.  I have recently tried to 'get out there' more often, and the results have been refreshing and rejuvenating in so many ways.

Is adventure what modern cushy American life attempts to constantly strip away? Or is it present in such small ways that we miss it?  It is all too tempting to stay in our homes, not talk to our neighbors, shut our eyes and ears to opportunities that are constantly knocking.  Maybe I will do this or that someday.  Next year.  Next week.  Not now, I'm tired from my long day of sitting.  At least for me, there is always that call ... a whisper in the wind beckoning me outside, to try something new, to risk my heart in love, to have faith in flawed people who don't deserve my trust, to test my strength and resolve in sports and good habits, to challenge myself to be better, stronger.  A little spontaneity goes a long way.

Can it be boiled down to a pursuit of novelty? Or what Chris might call the need to have a "project"?  Are we obsessed with novelty as a part of our culture? A study on Rhesus monkeys gave chimps an option between assured reward and gambling for their meals.  Time and time again, the animals preferred risk over regulation.  The primates preferred to gamble, and the unreliable result provided constant novelty.  I'm honestly not sure what decision I would make in such a case, but I find it interesting.

What I do know is I want to feel ALIVE.  What does that mean to you?  Maybe it changes - sometimes all I want is to feel like the things I do matter; other days I want my breath taken away in wonder.  People face chances to take more risk every day, be it financial, emotional, physical, or creative.  Whatever the case, it seems to me that it's an essential part of a healthy life.  So don’t be surprised if the next time you step outside your front door you find adventure is sitting there waiting for you, wagging its tail.

When the call to adventure comes, will you go?