Why is Adventure Only for the Rich?

I was on a first date a few weeks ago, and the man I was with said something I hadn’t thought of before, “It seems like you’ve done a lot, you must not’ve had much time for dating in your life.” I was surprised at the thought because I’ve dated off and on since I was in high school, but it did say something to me; I’ve been on a lot of adventures.

I’ve never turned away from an opportunity. I made every effort to travel when I was in high school, I moved heaven and earth to study abroad last summer, and I’ve moved every two years since I was in middle school. That’s all been very hard for me, but I always knew that the decision to go on another adventure wouldn’t be a decision I would regret.

I was able to do a lot of the things in the paragraph above because my parents had enough money, and they were willing to help me travel. I couldn’t have even afforded the plane ticket to Jordan when I went there. I was very lucky that my parents helped me to become the person I am today; they helped me to see the world, and that has shaped my worldview forever. But what would happen if my parents hadn’t made enough money to pay for college, let alone send me to foreign countries?

There are programs for poor students who want to study abroad, and those programs are very effective and very important. But why has society put a premium on adventures? Most of the things I’ve done that were adventurous were also very expensive. Why do we only look at expensive things as adventurous?

Isn’t trying out a new restaurant adventurous? What about going to a new city, or going
hiking on a strange trail? Why are those things somehow less than getting on a plane and flying halfway around the world? They certainly take less effort than traveling, but it’s the fact that they’re so easy to access that makes them beautiful. If those things were adventures, what excuse would anyone have to not go on an adventure?

If we take this approach to adventures, where the big things are adventurous but so are the little things, people would be going on adventures every day, not spending most of their time planning adventures that will only really be a week of their lives. Maybe we should spend more time going on little adventures, instead of trying to put together a few big adventures to go on once.

If we went on adventures every day, life might be better. We might have more fun in our lives, and watch TV less. We might meet new people, and experience more things before our time is over in this world. Isn’t that worth something?

What would your little adventure be?