The Adventure Possible approach to modern life builds adventure into life’s trajectory, borrowing five years from retirement to give professionals the structure, tactics, and opportunity to make adventure possible over the course of a successful career.
In summary, the life looks like this:
The Adventure Possible life borrows five years from retirement. Inspired by Stefan Sagmeister.
In such a model, beginning with age 25 as the first year of income producing work, we have five distinct opportunities for adventure.
We work hard for about seven years, and then we take a year off from work for adventure, giving us a one year adventure at ages 33, 41, 49, 57, and 65.
Deciding on Your Adventure
Depending on your interests, capabilities, and situation, the adventure that you choose will be unique to you and suited for your life and circumstances at a given time.
For example, if you are 33, married with two children aged 3 and 2 (like me!), then your adventure will need to accommodate those circumstances.
In our situation, we are opting to spend our year of adventure RVing around America, an adventure better suited for a family of four with two toddlers than, say, thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).
The RV adventure provides a greater level of comfortable living standards, easier access to medical services when needed, and varied entertainment activities for children, all of which will help my family and me have a successful and mostly joyful adventure. Attempting to thru-hike the PCT while carrying all of our gear and two children on our backs would be horrible.
Fast forward about twenty years to when I’m fifty years old. My kids will be off to college, and my adventure then will be unique to my circumstances, physical fitness, interests, and mentality at that time, whatever they may be.
The point here is that the adventure can be whatever you want it to be, but make sure that the adventure is suitable to both your interests and your situation at the time of the adventure.
Since your interests and situation will change over seven or so years, making an adventure suitable means being flexible in your concept of the ideal adventure.
Be willing to evolve your concept of the ideal adventure
While you are working and saving over several years for the next year of adventure, you will need to focus on the adventure that gets you excited.
Focus on an adventure that will keep you motivated to make money and save money. Focus on an adventure that keeps you awake in your bed at night or constantly researching on your phone.
However, don’t become unflinchingly married to the adventure idea that you have now.
Over years of working and living, your interests and situation will change. As a result, your concept of the ideal adventure will need to evolve as well.
Perhaps your adventure changes entirely or only evolves a bit to suit a different circumstance, such as budget constraint, children, or political unrest in some foreign land where you wanted to travel.
For now, to get things started, pick the adventure most dear to your heart and strive to make it happen.
Use your passion for the adventure to power you through the highs and lows of professional and financial challenges that lay ahead.
Need Ideas for your Adventure?
The adventure opportunities are limitless, which sometimes makes it hard to discover and decide on the right adventure. Here are a few adventures that we’ve had to get the ideas flowing.
Bike Across America – A great adventure for younger and older adventurers that can be as fast or slow as you want. Go alone or join a group.
Hike The Appalachian Trail – The famed footpath stretching from Maine to Georgia, thru-hiking the AT is about a five month backpacking adventure.
RV Around the Country – Roaming the countryside, hopping among the national parks and landmarks, a wonderful adventure for the whole family.
Want a bite-sized adventure? – We have macro respect for Alastair Humphrey’s microadventure concept, and we want to help people discover the microadventures in their own backyard. From our travels, we’re cataloguing microadventures in US state and national parks in our Weekend Adventures section.
So What’s Your Adventure?
It’s likely you already have an idea of the adventure on which you want to embark.
Share your adventure idea in the comments with a link to your adventure travel blog, if you have one.
Perhaps you will inspire others who are considering what their next adventure will be.
What’s Next?
With some idea of your adventure, you need to get finances in order so that you can start to make the adventure dream become reality.
Your next step is to Manage Debt Before Adventure Travel.
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