Where's YOUR sense of adventure?

I've been thinking about Adventure lately & what it looks like to different people. For some, the idea of adventure is jumping out of an airplane, or going white water rafting or training and completing a triathlon. For others, it might be traveling to a new city, moving to a new place or maybe singing karaoke. It's fascinating to hear people talk about what is an adventure for them because it gives us such a sense of each person's comfort zones & boundaries. It shows these completely individual ways of testing the limits.

For me the kind of adventure I have enjoyed most is CHANGE. And really BIG change. A great example of this is when I was just finishing up my MA degree in TESOL at the Monterey Institute. As graduation was approaching I saw an opportunity to teach at a University in Finland. A temporary position for a year. I thought it was perfect -- abroad and relatively close to Sweden, where I'd lived before. So I applied and I got the job. I was a little shocked because I had no teaching experience, just my degree and I was hired to teach 5 university courses. Also, I was graduating in mid Dec and courses started the 2nd week of January. I didn't even have a current passport.

So, I went into action mode and got it all done. I arrived late at night and the head of the department came and met me at the airport. It had snowed A LOT so the plane was delayed. He picked me up in the taxi and had the taxi driver stop at a grocery store to pick up some breakfast for me and then we drove out to the graduate dorms where I would be staying -- outside the city just a bit. He dropped me off and I walked into to this little dorm room with my one suitcase and my little bag of groceries. It was really dark everywhere -- pitch black outside even with the white snow. As I walked in and felt the reality of being in a new country where I knew no one and starting a new job with 5 new classes in just a week's time, I thought OH MY GOSH, WHAT have I DONE?? I panicked a little then and in the weeks to come. This is a perfect example of how I have tested my limits.

When we bring in that sense of adventure into our lives, when we test our limits, what happens is that we are taken to an edge. You know that place where you feel like you are almost stretching too far? What is so exciting about that is that those edges are SUCH rich areas of learning. They can be challenging and very uncomfortable at times and SOOOOO very rewarding. This was certainly my experience with my year (which became 2 & 1/2 years instead!) teaching in Finland.

So, now it's your turn. What is adventure for you? What ways do you like to test your limits? Think about a time when you were brought to an edge--a time you felt like you were really stretching. How did you react? What did you learn? How might you apply what you learned then to a current situation in your life? And finally, what might a new adventure be for you in the near or distant future?

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