060 | Invitation to Connect and Create Simple Adventure Experiences

Register for Ordinary Sherpa Everyday Adventure Challenge: ordinarysherpa.com/challenge What does winning look like in the  everyday adventure challenge?  I thought I would share some wins from previous participants.   The first list of wins comes from a new mom with an infant (he was only a few months old at the time of the challenge) and they shared  “While we didn't do many of the adventure ideas that we'd come up with. I'm proud that we did any of them at all and some unplanned ones as well. I learned a nursery rhyme in French. We took the tram up to the mountain to go home. We went to the international balloon Fiesta at three 30 in the morning and not only survived, but had. We went to the pumpkin patch and our Halloween costumes. And on Halloween, I took our little one out in his costume to see four neighbors that we know.  We also did little art projects. I made a ghost footprint. We ate out at a restaurant. A couple of times we visited the Indian Pueblo cultural center, and we also saw a Zuni Pueblo dance group perform, saw the museum exhibits and ate native American inspired food. We started a collection of things like leaves, bark, and rocks for a texture box for our little one and made a garden, stepping stone with his footprints in it. I want to try incorporating more adventures in our week and it sounds like a lot, but sometimes we didn't do much adventuring at all. It was what we learned was even twisting our perspective. Even small daily things can be an adventure. And that change in perspective is really the key that changed that we needed.” - New parents in New Mexico So that was a really fun family that I loved interacting with throughout the challenge and seeing their progress and hearing the little things that they, you know, it didn't really seem like these big, massive adventures, but they changed their perspective and really had something to look forward to each. Another participant was on the tail end of getting ready for her sabbatical, which was going to begin in January. When I did an accountability check-in I said, so how are your adventures coming along this week? And she responded, “adventures this week have been pretty epic. I joined a 50 plus basketball team and went to the Georgia games this weekend to compete in the nationals.  I'm also learning to scuba dive. When we took the final class in the pool last week, we're now scheduling our open-water dives. I also attended a virtual summit for moving abroad. As I type this, I can clearly see that I'm not lacking in big adventures.”  However, when I said, “oh my gosh, those all seem pretty epic.  Does any of this feel exhausting or do you enjoy the rush?” She shared,”it's a rush for sure. It's great counterpoint to the stress I'm dealing with in my life and getting ready to start my sabbatical.”  I asked “when you're on sabbatical, do you think you're going to need that same amount of rush? What will adventure look like when there's less stress to counterbalance?  And she said, “Hm, that's a good point.”  When I checked back in with her, she said, “adventures now just seemed to be still quiet and breathe.” And she did manage to take those major dinosaurs steps to get her house rented. To do some home sets to do a lot of the steps needed to get to her sabbatical location in January. -Aspiring Sabbatical in Georgia So it looks very different for everybody, but that's the beautiful thing is the adventure challenge is really designed for you to create your own adventure challenge for your family and decide what the boxes are that you want to check. We had one participant on an epic road trip. In fact, several of my challenge participants, will be on the podcast in a little bit to talk about their experience. One participated in the challenge while on a 40 day road trip in a minivan. The adventure challenge really helped spark simple unplanned experiences.   We've had participants just share things like, “we weren't always as adventurous as I wanted to be, but even some days we would go for a bike ride to the Y instead of taking the car. Those simple mindset things helped us really think about what adventure means.” We had one participant who focused on doing one-on-ones with his kids and used the adventure challenge to help inspire and create those itineraries. In one check in he had just taken his son to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, which was free and he was a military dad so it was a great, low cost way for him to connect with his son.  We had a mom with a teenage son who struggled with ideas, her son wasn’t always into adventuring.  We worked together to create a custom list.  She shared a fun experience where he agreed to attend and participate in chalkfest with her. sidewalk chalk art  can be really cool and easy way to make a mess and spend time together, creating their own little messages.  Personally she has set out to explore all of the state parks and accepts that sometimes the kids will come and sometimes they won’t and that is okay too.   We had a teacher who needed a break.  She needed to think about things differently. So she did a sensory walk as her weekly challenge, just to walk, just to go outside. Instead of listening to a podcast, like she would typically do. She decided to listen for all of the sounds that were around her. And that's really what it's all about. This is not a social media competition. This is not a Pinterest party. It's not about who can come up with the best ideas. It's just finding simple ways to connect with your kids and having fun. We've been able to crowdsource different activities. It could be the language experience or a food experience. It’s meant to be fun AND stretch you! I know it feels like you're so busy, right?  How can we add one more thing.  We're wearing busy as a badge of honor. I still do it. I'm still burned out and tired. But for me, this was cup filling.  This was not work. This was joyful. It was creating these moments that my kids and I could laugh together. And if it wasn't me, it was laughing with another parent over some of the silly things we were working through. And sometimes also thinking like, how can I. Let my kids be more responsible so that I can take a little adventure and have some alone time. Which is also important.  It's not required to do the meetups. It's not required to have an every day adventure every day is really just meant to be an intention, to be something that you look forward to. It's more of an expression really than anything. It is not an expectation. The goal is connection and however that looks for you right now.  To practice adventure as a new or uncomfortable experience. To ideas, to crowdsource some good ideas from the community, to, have something to look forward to each week. If you don't make the meetups, it's not the end of the world. I will check in on you. That's the other fun thing is I will be like your little accountability coach and help you through those off weeks. But overall it has been a really fun way to connect with you. To hear about simple ways you are finding ways to adventure in your own backyard, in your neighborhood, things that are accessible, that don't require a ton of planning. Those are the types of things that usually make the list. If this is of interest to you, if you want to jump in, I invite you to join us. Ordinarysherpa.com/challenge  We have registration open now.  The Challenge runs from February 5th to April 5th.  We do this three times a year so if you can't make this one. February 5th to April 5th- SpringJune 5th to August 5th- SummerSeptember 5th, to November 5th- Fall The registration opens two weeks before. So registration is open now and it will close the day before the challenge starts. So February 4th, registration closes at 11:45 PM. Again, you can go to ordinarysherpa.com/challenge If this isn't your. If you just want ideas. Join us tomorrow for a bonus episode where we share 15 adventure ideas you can do this weekend.   I hope I get to meet you, learn from you and connect inside the Everyday Adventure Challenge.  Register at ordinarysherpa.com/challenge Hope to see you on the inside! Worth noting, I have found that I really enjoy podcasting and having conversation without all the ads and interruptions many podcasters use.  If you enjoy the ideas, find joy or inspiration from my work, you can buy me a coffee to say thanks and support the show.  If you want to go deeper with the content and/or get more engaged you can find additional ways to support the show through the links below.   Website for this episode: https://ordinarysherpa.com/060Will you leave Written Review on Apple Podcasts:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/review/ Subscribe to the email List:  https://ordinarysherpa.com/subscribe/ Join the Ordinary Sherpa Facebook Group to interact with other listeners.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/ordinarysherpa