I don’t think it’s a secret that I try and live my life with no regrets. Sometimes, it might feel easier to be afraid and not do something in the moment but it is far worse to live with regret always wondering what if. So I always try to be looking for and be aware of opportunities – especially adventurous ones, that make good stories to tell. The older I get, the more responsibilities I have which only means that when an opportunity for adventure arises, the more important it is to capitalize on it.
Such an opportunity arose a couple weeks ago when I went to California for work. I had never been to California before so on the way back to the airport, we stopped at the Santa Monica Pier because you can’t go to California and not go to the beach right?
Except I have never been to the Pacific Ocean so you better believe I wasn’t about to leave without sticking my feet in. Since we were short on time after walking to the end of the pier, I literally ran down, stuck my feet in the water, snapped a few pictures and ran back up to the car.
In the 5 seconds I had my feet in the water, one of the guys who had run down with me to stick his feet in made the offhanded comment that now all I needed to do was stick my feet in the Atlantic when we got back and I will have been in both oceans on the same day. Well, anyone who knows me knows that all it takes is an idea – no matter how big or small or intentional & well thought out or random it may be – and my imagination is off with my determination close behind. Once I heard that idea, even though I knew he was only half kidding, I immediately decided that I needed to do it.
Sure I might be able to do it again in the future and plan it better. But there’s no guarantee. Plus I had no work or commitments the next day and who knows what other responsibilities (which often turn into excuses) I might have in the future. No. When it comes to being adventurous, the present circumstances are always ironically the safest bet so if they look good, I’m going to do it.
And so I did. I slept on the plane knowing that I was going to be driving at least another 4 hours. So my flight landed in Atlanta at 7pm and I left the airport by 7:30, picked up my car and arrived at Tybee Island by midnight. Once I found an access point, I ran out, stuck my feet in the water, snapped a photo and ran back to my car where I spent the night. Within 11 hours I had been in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans!
As a bonus, I made sure I woke up early enough to see the sunrise – which was beautiful!
So keep your eyes open to adventures. Be on the lookout – because they are more common than you think and they are good. They may look like crazy thoughts and come with a lot of reasons to say no but trust me, whether they work out or not, to be adventurous is never a bad thing.
