A is for Adventure

So, here I am – at the start of a new challenge. As if I don’t have enough challenges on my hands as it is! However, I prefer to look on this particular challenge more as an ‘adventure', though it feels more like a ‘mystery tour’ as I start out.

You see, I signed up for this ‘A-Z Challenge’ for bloggers pretty much at the 11th hour. As a result I’ve really had no time to consider it in any great detail. Anyway, what is it all about? Well, basically it is a challenge put out to bloggers to make one post each day for the month of April. With Sundays off for good behaviour, that makes 26 posts. To add to the challenge, we are asked to blog thematically from A-Z over the course of the 26 days. So here I am – starting with the letter A – for Adventure!

Those who know me well would most likely not use the word ‘adventurer’ to describe me. In fact, I would probably be considered a ‘risk-averse’ sort of person. That’s not to say I haven’t stuck my neck out at times during my life but I usually do like to know roughly where I’m going. However, apart from having made the momentous decision at the last minute to sign up for this challenge and deciding that A stands for Adventure, I really have no idea where this is going to go.

But, you know, that’s part of the fun. It reminds me of the first real adventure I undertook in life. Back in my college days in the early eighties, I decided to spend my last summer as a student travelling through the USA by bus. I traversed from east to west and back again by an alternate route. During one particular stretch, 4 out of 5 days were spent sleeping on the bus. It seemed a better use of time than stopping to overnight in some hostel or the like. All in all, it was a wonderful 5 weeks. At the end of it I was convinced I was born to live a life of travel and adventure. Instead, I graduated and took all the roads most travelled, including a permanent, pensionable job. To this day I work for the same company. As you can see, Adventure is not my middle name.

As I come closer to the end of that career, however, I see priorities changing. My career has reached its plateau and as I begin to look ahead to the foreseeable future when I will retire (hopefully early), I have already realised that new beginnings are possible and that it is never too late to embark on new adventures. Within the past two years I have discovered a completely new hobby for me – photography. I have also discovered recently that there are new challenges for me in the world of music. These are the new adventures that I hope will sustain me (mentally at least, rather than financially) when I eventually get fed up with the ultimately futile and frustrating corporate world of work.

I still hold a glimmer of hope of living out some travel adventures. Time will tell. You never know what is around the corner - it could be good or it could be bad. One thing is certain, everyone has bad times in one way or another and therefore I increasingly realise the importance of making the most of the good things that happen. So if opportunity comes knocking – seize it. You may never have another opportunity like it again. It’s all part of the great adventure that is life!

And with that, I'm off to think about what B might stand for ......

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* I was looking for one of my photos to accompany this post. I chose the one above, recently taken in Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains, as the deserted road leading into the hills portrays a sense of venturing into the unknown.

This post is part of the Blogging from A-Z Challenge. Please click the link to see a list of participating blogs and hopefully take the time visit a few.