Adventure

I've been thinking about adventure this evening, and what it looks like.
There is this idea that adventure must be something external; a place that we go like Singapore, or a thing that we do like sky diving. But the real meaning we get from these external circumstances, the reason we call these things adventures, is because of what goes on inside while we do it.
Traveling for me is a way to challenge the hell out of my internal world. The physical nature of how I tend to travel is the perfect example. There is a lot of exhaustion in the necessity of traveling cheap around the world. And I wouldn't have it any other way. When you don't have a choice but to keep walking or you'll miss that train (or you'll never get there), there is a choice you make inside. The physical toil is not the prize, it is the internal stamina you somehow find, that you didn't really think you had up until that moment. I know this is why a lot of people do extreme or excessive sports. Yet there are other things that come from travel that challenge that inner world. Culture being a huge one. The author Pico Iyer refers to travel as "a useful corrective to what I might otherwise assume to be real life..." For me this constitutes a questioning of the self about what I thought I knew. What are my assumptions about myself and the world around me and where do those assumptions hide?

Today I am realizing that there is opportunity for adventure in this moment, in every moment. I know, its a cliche, but its true. If the challenge of travel (or other such challenges to self) is an external way to illicit those internal voyages, then there is no reason they can not be accomplished here and now. Of course, this is easier said then done. When it comes down to it I travel because it pushes me over that edge, and it is harder to jump than to be pushed. It requires more dedication to remaining open; open to whatever may arise, including fear and joy (the things I think we in our daily lives avoid the most).
I had an adventure the other night and I didn't have to go far. I have been wandering the maze of my assumptions ever since and finding them surprisingly easy to challenge.
The simplest things in a day can push you to that edge, if you are open to seeing them and are willing to then jump off...