Photo by Artur Didyk - Getty Images
Whitewater kayaking
Carter had one, and only one story that he told at every opportunity. Having heard it so many times, family and friends could recite this narrative all but verbatim. Not that it was a boring yarn, but because it was the only really engaging one Carter ever shared, it seemed a sad testament to the ho-hum nature of his existence.
This man’s oft-told story recounted his adventure in a kayak on a rain-swollen river. Hurtling through some raging white water, he made an error in judgment and flipped his craft upside down. After he became submerged and inverted, the current spun him around, making it difficult to right the kayak. Following a few failed attempts and anxious moments, he managed to flip upright and bobbed to the surface with a combination of relief and exhilaration.
Each time I observed Carter recount this experience, his face lit up and his voice crackled with excitement. That moment in his life, above all others, was when he felt most alive. Why? Because it was a true adventure, an episode when his pedantic existence and narrow sense of self were momentarily replaced with raw, compelling immersion in the élan vital of feeling fully alive.
Monotonous Life?
Unfortunately, after his thrilling river ride, Carter gave up on daring exploits or anything that required getting outside of his comfort zone. Instead, he returned to his plodding routines, familiar faces and places, and a mind-numbing monotony broken only by occasional existential hiccups. I’ve no clue why his kayak adventure didn’t motivate him for more, but its one-off nature said something about his approach to life.
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For those whose lives are buffeted by helter-skelter surprises, tragedies or repetitive crises, monotony can sound pretty inviting. But for the legions who march lockstep through existence, adventureless living can feel like repeatedly reading the same dull book with an obvious ending.
The antidote for a same-same lifestyle, of course, is a same-different one that balances familiarity and consistency, which most find comforting, with energizing adventures that light up psyche and soul. When, years before, Carter slipped into that kayak and pushed off from shore, he was leaving more than literal solid ground. He was venturing outside his usual and customary guardrails in pursuit of something fresh and unpredictable.
Seek Adventure
Adventures come in many guises, not just raging rivers, parachute jumps and wilderness treks. For most of us, an adventure is any activity that takes us beyond our traditional behavioral boundaries, sometimes helps us transcend our fears and affords a palpable and positive sense of being exquisitely alive. They light us up.
We sometimes hear admonitions from our elders about diving into life headfirst, rather than sitting quietly in some seemingly safe corner watching time slip away. Some speak sadly about their missed opportunities, but others remind us that, even later in life, there’s still time to walk a bit closer to the edge, to throw some cautions to the wind, and to once again feel young at heart.
Helen Keller, the deaf and blind subject of the book The Miracle Worker, once said, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”
I’ll respectfully amend her adage by suggesting that, without adventure, life is still something but not nearly enough.
