Adventure in a Nutshell

Adventure

1. An exciting or very unusual experience

2. Participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: The Spirit of Adventure

3. A bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome

We kind of have to start with the Dictionary definition of "Adventure" if we're going to reimagine it. And I hope you'll agree by the end of this initial, meandering adventure of a post that we need to do precisely that. 

The above definition assumes several things.

1. Adventure is uncommon

2. Most people do not have adventures on an ongoing basis

3. To classify as an adventure, the outcome of the undertaking must be uncertain. 

4. Adventures necessitate taking a risk of some kind. 

As a librarian, I tend to ask a lot of questions and not take things at face-value. The first question that forces itself into my mind is, Who gets to decide if it's an adventure? Seriously, how do you know an adventure when you see it? You could be having an adventure. Right. Now. 

There's nothing special about the picture below. She could be any Argentinean woman enjoying mate, which is as prevalent as coffee in the States. 

As it happens, she's not Argentinean at all, although she blends right in-often called the Paris of South America, Buenos Aires is full of people of European descent. 

She's never had mate in her life, and this picture was snapped before she took her first sip through the traditional straw, called the bombilla. If you could only have seen the way her cheeks puckered in surprise a few bitter sips later. 

She is in fact ME. An American girl who, aside from living in Denmark for a year, had never left the country. I had my phone stolen on my first day in Argentina and found myself relying upon the kindness of strangers. My Spanish skills were severely tested (the Spanish spoken in Argentina is unique and not really spoken in quite the same way anywhere else in the world). 

I was out of my element, in the part of Buenos Aires where the Tango is thought to have originated. A friend and I bussed in due to concerns about the crime-ridden neighborhood leading to this lovely tourist destination. 

Adventure then, can't really be understood outside of the context in which it occurs. One person's mundane is another person's exotic. 

That much is fairly well understood, I think. What doesn't get discussed much is how little we acknowledge our own adventures. Because, like it or not, they're happening all the time. We become the native in our own lives, refusing to see the traveler. We lament that we haven't done more in situations because we play the part of the native who knows all the backroads and hottest hangouts, when in fact we're really more like the lost tourist, still trying to get the lay of the land, wondering how safe this new terrain is, secretly loving the cafe-sipping city life, and simultaneously wanting to escape into forgotten forests and mountain retreats. 

Life is an adventure. To be human is to be the result of a series of happy accidents. Somewhere along the line, you got off the plane. It really doesn't matter who put you on it, because you're here now. You look no different than anyone else. Some of us have been here longer, explored more, been hurt sooner, gotten a little more lost in the uncertain terrain. We're all natives in some ways and tourists in others. And this adventure called life asks us to be both simultaneously. And what a challenge it is, to be two people, to own both sides of the coin. 

But we can rise to the occasion. 

Adventure is occasionally ugly, and beautiful for it. It's rare and happening all the time. It's understood and the greatest mystery we'll ever be asked to own. 

I only have one more question for you. 

Are you ready to begin?