Adventure calling…

I am in my 40th year, my birthday is in December so a wee bit to go before I hit my big 40! However, I’m not sure if it’s this impending birthday, my nature or the adventure I had last year that is giving me itchy feet to do crazy fun things!

Last year I spent six months living in New York with my husband, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we grabbed it with both hands. We wanted to do this together and have lots of fun on our adventure. It took me a wee while to settle into the new pace of life and a non stop culture, but it was epic and one which I will truly cherish forever. I spent days walking around and exploring, so many people, so many things to see and do and eat and drink and be involved in….I didn’t know where to start. Everyone back home was telling me to do or try this and it got to the point when I was trying to please everyone (although they weren’t bothered if I did what they suggested).

One day I realised, I need to have MY own experience, and do things MY way. I can’t possibly live up to everyone else’s expectations. I had been to New York a few times previously so did a lot of the main tourist attractions then. I wanted to have new experiences. I sat myself down and wrote a plan or guide to what I wanted to do and what my sanity and budget would allow. I went from being chaotic and hurried, to being planned, organised and relaxed. I got myself into a routine, which I hadn’t realised I was missing, since giving up work. I essentially didn’t have to get up at all…..this was a strange scenario!

I did yoga most mornings, went for a long walk afterwards, came home for lunch or grabbed a sandwich from the deli, went for another walk in the afternoon and took my book with me and found somewhere to sit and relax, came back late afternoon and made a dinner plan. I used an app to teach myself Spanish, read up on aromatherapy, joined a gym for the twice a week yoga classes, ran a couple of times a week. We ate out, had takeaways, found a great local bar and met some great people. I enjoyed it and enjoyed that I was more relaxed and doing what I wanted. MY experience would always be different to someone else, whether a stranger or a friend who had the opportunity to do the same. I didn’t want to live someone else’s adventure, I wanted to live my own.

Anyway, that in short was a brief of my NYC adventure. Like I say I do have itchy feet and want to do something else full of fun and adventure and learning experiences. I travelled in 2005/2006 and went to the US, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji and had an epic adventure there. I did a bungee jump which was terrifyingly great, snorkelled at the Great Barrier Reef, swam round Beachcomber Island and had a wonderful time meeting people there, I learnt how to pick asparagus working on a farm as well as how to pick sweetcorn, plant pumpkins and shear sheep. Back in the UK I met my husband and moved to a new city, studied a Post Grad Diploma in HR Management, have had a few mini adventures, got married – big fun adventure, been on holidays, been whitewater rafting a couple of times, completed the Edinburgh Moonwalk, done a few 5ks and I am always on the lookout for a new challenge! And this is what I am missing at the moment.

I have looked at doing the Camino de Santiago…..oh wow what an adventure that would be! It would be awesome, but I can’t take a month or two off work to do it, so would possibly have to complete it in chunks. But it isn’t just travel adventures I want to achieve, I am doing a Wellbeing Coaching course in June which will be amazing and will take me on a different journey and a different sort of adventure.

When I was growing up, my friends and I used to always do something adventurous, we climbed trees and then got stuck as cows surrounded us, we explored scary abandoned farm buildings and sheds, we cycled for miles and took a picnic with us, we never stopped exploring and learning.

I’m not looking to do a list of things to do before I am 40, I want something that will feed my soul, nourish my spirit of adventure and have a truly great learning experience.

I joked to my husband that I think I am having a mid life crisis as I wouldn’t mind going skinny dipping somewhere…now obviously I’m not about to jump in the Forth and do that. I was thinking more secluded and in a warmer climate than Scotland! I want to do something fun, exhilarating, crazy, mad and just enjoy every second of it. I want to go into my 40’s knowing I haven’t lost my spirit of adventure and despite any anxiety I am not afraid to just jump in with two feet and have some WHOOO HOOO moments!

Tell me what adventures you have had or are planning to have. Any ideas would be welcomed and I may just give them my own twist.

Thank you for reading. Now off you go and enjoy an adventure of your own!

Look after you! 🤩

Love Emma

xxxx