Are  you goal oriented?  Want to know ahead of time where the results or benefits will lead you, guaranteed, if you do something…like decide that life is an adventure and you want to dare it…that life will be all fun and games? At a speech I gave about having an adventurous attitude towards life, a young man in the audience asked me a question regarding the end result I expect from adventures.  I transcribed our exchange from the video, and decided I want to break it down for you.  Maybe it will help clear things up about my mission: I help people shift their outlook on life by inspiring them to change how they see their difficulties, big and small, as challenges to be solved through adventures, big and small.  The italics below are my comments now (vs. response during the Q&A)

Answering questions after the “Life is an Adventure. Dare it.” speech at Burning Man’s Center Cafe Speaker Series

Guy from Canada:  I’ve also been following the same rules to chase a life of adventure.

Honey, there are no “rules.” What works for me, may not work for you.  Everyone’s journey is unique to each person.  I just offer tips to guide you to your path.  I’m not chasing a life of adventure.  I’ve shifted how I look at life – so all of it is adventurous.  It’s “I am” vs. “I will be when I reach this goal/buy this thing/see this place.”  But you’re in a good place, wanting to change so you, too, have an adventure mindset.

Guy from Canada: I have a very interesting concern, or kind of puzzle for myself.  Of all these adventures, with you changing your life to be all adventures…

It must get confusing, because I do all these things and make them sound fun. Having an Adventure Attitude isn’t about “doing” it’s about “being.”  I went through some really dark times, climbed myself out of several deep holes to get to a mental place where I needed to discover who I am.  Adventure changed my life.  I didn’t change my life to have adventures.  I changed my life because I was sick and tired of feeling that life was against me.  Flipping my thoughts became the adventures that changed my whole outlook.

Guy from Canada: Where do you think that’s going to lead you in the end?

Me: Where is it going to lead me?  That’s the last tip (from my “10 Tips to developing an Adventure Attitude): Let Go.  Let go of the outcome.

And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all! It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free!
Let it go, let it go!

I admit, at this point I was ready to start singing from Disney’s “Frozen” the refrain “Let it go, let it goooooo”. But I didn’t.  The advice to ‘let go’ can mean lots of things.  In this case, let go of the outcome reminds me of advice I heard repeatedly when I was still in my dark times.  In the recovery movement the slogan is “Let go and let God.”   I also listened to audiobooks by Wayne Dyer (an internationally known speaker and author in the self-help & spirituality category) where he’d give many different perspectives about rather relinquishing ego’s attachment to, or fear of, something.  I lesson I learned was that the more you tried to control an outcome, the less it was likely to happen the way you thought it would.  Another self-help guru, Mama Gena, has her own way of saying “Let go of the outcome”: “May you get all you desire and beyond your wildest dreams.”  Isn’t that cool?  Better than I thought?  You bet I’m going to not try to only get a controlled outcome, but one way beyond my dreams!  Awesome!

Me: I don’t know.  I don’t know.  Burning Man is all about “immediacy” about the Now.

I’m sure you’ve heard the different iterations about ‘all we have is this moment.’  How can I know my “end”?  All I have is where I am standing right now, which is an adventure within a huge adventurous environment.  Years ago I read the book “The Power of Now” and Burning Man’s “immediacy” principal (participate now, as everything is temporary POV) fit right in.

Me: Another tip I offer is “Baby Steps.”  One adventure builds upon another.  I don’t know where it’s going to lead me.  I mean, five or six years ago when someone said “Hey, you want to go to Burning Man?” I said “I think I know what that is.”  Look at me now – I’ve gone to Burning Man five times now, attended the Burning Man Global Leader Conference, I’m speaking here, I’m a lead for my camp, and I built art out on playa for the first time this year.  If you had told me six years ago I would wake up at sunrise to unplug LED lights from an art project’s car batteries, I would have thought you were completely nuts!

Baby steps. Having an Adventure Attitude doesn’t mean taking giant leaps like trips to Burning Man just because you think going to “somewhere” will completely transform you.  Making minor decisions, overcoming daily fears in new ways to change them – those are the baby steps that lead you to life events that seem bigger.  Adventures build upon each other.  I went to my first Burning Man after I spent almost seven years of smaller adventures that led me to a mindset where attending a big event like this could happen.

Me: I don’t know what’s next.  But I’m open for it.

Honey, I can’t even think of where my way of looking at life, as an adventure, will lead me.  If I must think about the “end” then I hope it will have been a life impacting others positively.  But for right now, I’m doing my best to enjoy all that life has to give me. Turning difficulties into challenges to be overcome, as well as fully appreciating all of the parts that make me smile.

Every moment can be a new beginning. Go for it and see where the adventure leads you.

Have you let go of the need to control the answer to question, where will it all lead you?

What is your question?  Do you want to know where your life will be if you start/continue having adventures?  Or how having an adventurous mindset will change your life?  Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!