Adventure

Anyone who knows me well will know that I have a certain sense of adventure.

I love nothing more than to try something new, particularly if it's outside or musical, or both.

These past few weeks have been filled with opportunities to try new things, and I've been so excited to be getting my adventure buzz back. To bring you up to speed, I've been working at a beach as a lifeguard and at a sports camp for the last little bit. This means that I've had to step out of my regular comfort zone and test out new skills and abilities in many environments.

For my NLS Waterfront, I got to learn how to clear a snorkel and mask underwater (side note, how hilarious is the word 'snorkel'?!) how to use a paddleboard, and how to surf ski (which is amazing!). I also learned a great game called Beach Flags which is played on a beach volleyball court.

With camp, I got to try a little bit of everything the camp offers. This includes mountain biking (I did the stairs!), body surfing (jumping in the river after a dam), tscheukball (sp?) rowing and dragon boating in the paddling tank, and the low ropes course.  Not quite as adventuresome, but I also gained a wide knowledge of camp songs, games, and sports.

Basically, I'm pumped to be getting out and pushing my boundaries a bit.

I feel that the reason I like trying new things so much is that I'm the kind of person who likes to be just a little bit good at everything. I don't say this to be boastful, it's actually quite the opposite. I'm a perfectionist in the way that I have to put 100% into everything I do, but only to the extent of my abilities. By 'a little bit good at everything' I mean that I just like to know enough about a wide variety of things in order to be able to put some effort in. I like being able to say 'hey, I've done this before, let's see how much I can improve'.

My sense of adventure, in this way, has led to me having an array of skills, but I'm not necessarily skillful. Which suits me just fine! In fact, I got my camp name from being similar to a utilitiy tool (no, my camp name is not Tool). I have a ton of hidden talents and skills that can come in handy when needed.

Thus, I'm just a little bit knowledgeable with things photography, rock climbing, guitar, harmonica, painting, kayaking, rowing, golf, cross country skiing, and yes, blogging.

But that's not to say that I limit myself to being only knowledgeable. When I try new things, I like to keep working at them to see improvement, and to throw myself once again into the proverbial uncharted waters. Although, sometimes they aren't proverbial, there really are uncharted waters.

I'm a person who's not afraid to toe the comfort level boundary.

Sometimes I need a little assurance or prompting, but generally, if I want to do something, I'm probably going to do it. I like to use a skydiving analogy for this. If I were to ever skydive, this is how my in-flight conversation would go.

"Wooooooo, this view is AWESOME."
"When do I get to jump?!"
"You sure this thing is on right?"
"Do I jump yet?"
"Oh god, I gotta jump soon!"
"Should I really be doing this?"
(Person: "Yeah. You got it.")
"You sure?!"
(Person: "You know you want to try it.")
"It's scary!"
(Person: "You're all over this. Go for it. Do it!")
"Yeah?"
(Person: "Yeah!")
"YEAHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

So I'll conclude with a list of adventuresome things I'd like to do one day.

- Long Range Traverse
- Macchu Picchu
- West Highland Way
- Whitewater Rafting
- Whitewater Kayaking
- Geocaching
- Outdoor Climbing/Bouldering
- Caving
- Ziplining/more high ropes
- Wakeboarding
- Kitesurfing
- Real Windsurfing
- Bungee jumping
- Horseback Riding (in a forest)
- Dirtbiking/Ride a Motorcycle

You probably think I'm crazy.

I probably am :)