Have you ever met a tourist who has seen more of your hometown’s sights than you have? It’s a common phenomenon. When you’re only visiting, you appreciate that a place is different, interesting and worth the time to explore.
When I’m in an exotic, faraway place I make the effort to explore backstreets and eat in quirky cafes. I set my alarm early to watch the sun rise over a river. I love getting off the beaten path. Battling difficult terrain to reach a remote beach makes arriving there all the more enjoyable.
A few years ago, though, I realized that while I’m an adventurous, curious person overseas, I was a very different guy back home. I had made the mistake of assuming that because I’m very familiar with where I live, it could not be wild, exciting or adventurous. I was wrong!
For a whole year I stopped doing big overseas expeditions. Not only did I love those trips, they also were my only source of income. So stopping them was hard for me to do, yet I decided to begin exploring my own country. Britain is not known for being big and wild. But I discovered that almost everywhere I looked, there were pockets of wildness waiting to be explored. Not only that, I discovered that exploring these pockets doesn’t require a lot of time or money. Imagine having an enormous mountain range close enough to enjoy on a work night!
The only hard part of finding adventure close to home is shifting your attitude to go seek it out.
Remember sleeping in your back garden as a kid? Looking at the moon and stars, listening to birdsong or watching the sunrise from your sleeping bag—it was fun, right? So why not try it again, now that you’re a grown-up? Sleep out for the night, then wake up and head to your important grown-up office job. Similarly, when was the last time you swam in your local river, or explored the fields and woods off the route of your normal run or dog walk?
Here then is my challenge. I challenge you to make a journey around your home. It sounds easy. But whether you live in a city or the countryside, I guarantee this will show you places that you have never seen before. Grab a map. Draw a circle with your home in the center. It’s up to you how big that circle is.
Then walk, run or cycle your circle, trying your hardest to stay exactly on the line you have drawn. I tried this last summer, camping out along the way. It was a real eye-opener to see new landscapes, to feel like an explorer and to enjoy a night under the stars in a small wood, knowing that I was just two miles from my home, my normal boring routine and my TV.
Adventure is out there, just waiting for you. All you need to do is change your attitude. The rest is easy.