SAYING ‘YES’ TO ADVENTURE
This weekend was rainy. It was one of those early-winter days in the UK where the skies are a deep unending grey. The air was moist with what the English call ‘mizzle’; a misting rain that soaks you to the bone in a matter of minutes. Just as I was about to enter into another English habit of moaning about the weather, my eye caught a picture stuck to our fridge. It was an image of a six-year-old me and my two younger sisters, sat at our Grandparent’s table on a sundrenched Colorado summer day. The picture had been taken a three months before we had moved to England.
Looking at the picture closely, I started to see my younger self in ways that had not been revealed before. I realized how free of worry and stress I was at that age and how relaxed and healthy my body was as a result. Diving deeper, I asked my six-year-old self what her favourite part of being alive was. Her answer astonished me with its simplicity. She said:
“I love that I get to adventure.”
When I was six my playground was my life. The ‘normal’ daily activities of my parents, my grandparents, and the mountain environment were the backdrops to my explorations and my growth. I wasn’t able to travel all over the world like my adult self is. I wasn’t able to escape the situations that I didn’t like or found challenging. I had very limited choice and even more limited resources. But I felt more free than any other stage of my life.
So what happened?
How did I gradually restrict myself with each year that had passed since?
At a loss, I asked my six-year-old self again. In her wisdom she said….
“You gained weight.”
I had to laugh out loud. She was right – in more ways than one! I had gained weight.
I had put on extra pounds from food; thought food, emotional food, belief food and unnecessary physical food that I had ingested as a way of escaping boredom and depression. I had become heavy with the expectations, stories and ideas of others, sacrificing my own authentic adventure. Sure I was luckier than most. I had started to find my way out of the forest of social illusion decades ago and was now shining a flashlight into the sky for others to see and find. But there were still days like this one where I forgot that I had the same choice to adventure as I had when I was six.
The memory of choice is the ultimate depression hack.
Our ability to say ‘yes’ to adventure opens the door to choice.
Depression is a natural sign of stagnation and saying no to the adventure of our life.
If you want to reconnect to the natural energy, vitality and wellbeing that you felt as a child perhaps you could consider saying ‘yes’ to adventure in some form?
If you want to let go of old unnecessary weight gained from accepting others people’s stories about how your life should be, then maybe it’s time to reclaim your ability to make different choices.
Try some adventurous storyhacks:
- Jump off the cliff into the ocean of possibility again
- Go on a trip
- Pick a comfort zone challenge
- Walk a new way to work
- Try a new food
ANYTHING that makes you feel alive and spontaneous!
Want some help?
- Dip your toe in the water – read Tough Bliss: Restorying Life
- Wade in up to your knees – Try one of our Restorying Audio Quests
- Jump in the deep end – join us on our advanced adventures like the Soulistic Journey or our Keys of Alchemy Quest in Egypt
After all, you are the only one who can say ‘yes’ to the adventure of your life!
