Sometimes, life puts you in a rut. Days begin to become a blur of classes and naps, rehearsals and practices and homework and studying and endless hours of binge watching Netflix for hours on end; and before you know it, you feel stuck. Now if you're a college student like me, the "spontaneous adventuring" account is regrettably low on funds. So, while booking a last minute plane ticket to your exotic destination of choice might not be an option,in your quest to break up the dull, repetitious aspects of day to day life; I have come across a few ways to have an adventure without having to do much adventuring at all.
1. Read a Book that Matters
Now, this might seem like an odd suggestion for an adventure. You might be thinking "I read all the time!" or "Silly you! Don't you know I haven't read a book since the take home readers they assigned to us in the 1st grade?!" And okay, okay. Using books as an "escape from real life" might be a cliche at this point, but I'm not talking about heading down to Barnes and Nobles and picking up the latest best seller on the front table. I'm talking, read a book that matters. A book that matters to someone that matters to you. Talk to your best friend. Talk to the person you're dating. Ask them about the first book to make them cry, or laugh out loud. Ask your mom the first book she really enjoyed reading as a teenager, or your dad the first book that he every remembers making him smile. And when you have that book in your hand, read it and try to feel the pages the way they might have felt them. See within the bindings what they one saw. See if it matters as much to you as it did to them once upon a time.
2. Take an Adventure Drive
Grab your best friend, and your car keys. Put the car in drive, roll the windows down, turn the music up, and just drive.Flip a coin to decide if you turn right or left at each intersection. Drive until the sun sets or your playlist ends. Stop wherever you are and take a picture of that moment. Eat at the first restaurant you see from where you stopped driving. Buy the cheapest knick-knack from the first store you can find. Drive to the edge of your town and watch the light change as the sun sets on the population sign. Drive until you see a rock to climb or a puddle to splash in. Drive until you find somewhere to beautiful not to document with a photograph. Drive until the person in the seat beside you goes hoarse from singing so loudly. It doesn't even matter where you drive to, or how far you get.what matters is spending time with the person you love most in the world in a close space, talking or not talking, singing or not singing, but just getting out end enjoying another place in life together.
3. Go Technology Free for Two Hours
I know I know. Most of you are going to skip over this one. "This woman wants to take our connection to the world away?! How dare she!" "Burn her! Burn her!" you will scream! But before you do that, just hear me out. I love my phone. It is never far from my side. Actually, it's almost always in my hand. But sometimes, I just need some time for me. And occasionally that includes taking a trip to my favorite coffee shop and leaving my phone at home for an hour or so and always vowing to try something new there. Whether it be the recommended sandwich of the day, or a new latte one of the employees made up themselves earlier that week: and spending an hour or so just enjoying life. Sometimes I read a book, sometimes I write in my journal, sometimes I just sit and eat and do nothing at all. The point isn't what I'm doing, but that fact that I'm doing something for me without the need for connection with anyone else. Maybe for you that's going for a jog or bowling or maybe it's a trip to the local bookstore or simply an errand-run to Walmart. Whatever the activity may be, leave your phone at home. Just see what happens.
4. Spend a day Mixing it Up
Do you hardly ever wear makeup to class? Pick a morning to swipe on some lipstick and mascara before rushing out the door to your first class. Mostly wear Nike shorts and t-shirts to class? Let a friend pick an outfit out for you that they think you would look good in. Order a smoothie with lunch. Sit somewhere new in the lecture hall. Usually stay in on Friday night? Go out with friends. Maybe to a party, maybe for a late night talk in the part, maybe simply to listen to music in your car. Make a vow to spend the day doing as many things as the opposite of the way you usually do them as you can. Make a game out of it! you'll be surprised as to what you discover you like more than your usual routine!
5. Do something spontaneous
This is the part of doing adventitious things that scares me the most personally, so that's why it A) I think it is important to include and b) why it is number 5; my last and final suggestion. Spontaneity is a strange thing because it takes different shapes for different people. For some people being spontaneous is jumping into the deep end with both feet. Chopping 8 inches of their hair off or dying it all blue, getting a tattoo or a creative new piercing. While these might be the sort of drastic changes you need or want at some points in your life, spontaneous choices don't always have to be that life-altering. Simply treating yourself spending a little more than usual on a new tube of lipstick from the drug store, or saying yes to that party on Saturday your friends have been trying to convince you to go to. Whatever spontaneous action might suit you, go for it full force. Whether it's big or small, do something new. Do something that might scare you. Do something out of your comfort zone. That circle of safety we live most of our lives in might be fine for everyday life, we can't stay in its warm embrace forever. When it comes down to it we only live our life one time. Isn't it about time to do something a little crazy?
