Why an Adventure Blog?
Because all the cool kids are doing it. Aren’t they? People are still blogging, right? Anyone, anyone? Bueller? Blogspot?!
Normally I’d open with “on this episode…” or “Hi I’m Ben Fast, welcome to Well That’s Cool!” But not this time. Ok, I actually did say those things out loud, you just didn’t hear them because this is the written word and I’ve decided to go easy on myself and not do another podcast. Even though I did talk to three friends about the concept and potential season 3 merch first…
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, I wanted to do something with my *cough* “spare two weeks” at home and get my own long-dreamed-of podcast off the ground. I wanted to talk with people doing cool things and satiate my extroverted curiosity while stuck at home. It turned into a yearlong project and a book club, of sorts. If you’re not already reading this in my voice, go take a listen then come back.
At least I looked like a wild adventurer in 2020!
Lockdown was an adventure, in some ways. I spent a lot of time talking to myself or people who weren’t there, my personal hygiene practices were questionable, and I didn’t see people for days at a time!
The podcast tapered to an end in 2021 as life in Alberta returned to “normal” and my interests shifted more to road cycling, walking my neighbourhood, model making, and record collecting. My time was also taken up by upgrading for school and then moving back to the coast, followed by the piles of homework since re-starting university this fall. It was a good year with both highs and lows that now finds me in a new province preparing for a new career, and unfortunately facing down yet another COVID variant of concern.
With all this change and time re-examining of my future, the slow progression towards 2022 had me looking at my identity and what defines the spirit of my life outside work or school. What would I do in my new home and how would I engage with the coast that I’ve lovingly returned to?
It was so great getting back in my kayak in September 2021!
People I meet who aren’t from BC often ask if I do two things: smoke pot or ski. I do neither, other than a brief dabbling with cross-country. That’s skiing in case you were confused. But it brings up a good point about identity: if you live on the coast and you’re young and generally fit, you must live a life of adventure sports and daring. More and more I started feeling like I didn’t.
I’m 30 – an arbitrary albeit round number that makes for a good measuring stick – single, in a new town, facing down 30+ years of a stressful but highly rewarding new career that requires balance, health, and external passions to keep me grounded. It also allows me a lot of time (in the summers) to explore those passions.
With a lot of time between semesters and the constant reminder of my kayak sitting atop my car, I started thinking about adventure. Fueled my inordinate YouTube watching and the jealous self-comparisons that come with that (more on this later), I started doubting if I was adventurous or if I could ever become so.
Then New Year’s Eve came, and my long-distance friend and former quasi-workmate Jennifer posted about meeting her yearly hiking goal of 52 hikes (she did 120 hikes, actually, going more than 1,000km through the year!). Here was my inspiration: setting a goal for the year, getting outside, having adventures, and seeing the value in them whatever form they take.
My 2021 Strava Stats
Because if it’s not online, did it really happen?
Could have been better, could have been worse. Fewer days than 2020, but more distance and elevation.
I pulled out my Adventure Journal – once a logbook of sorts and my former kayak skills workshop notebook – and summarized what I had done in 2021. Scrolling through Strava to get the stats was a good reminder that I had managed a lot, even with less activity since returning to school in the fall. I recorded activities on 159 days, totalling just over 2,000km. I paddled in each month I’ve been back in BC (including a winter paddle in -11 weather!). I hiked and snowshoed 23km over a weekend in Jasper, along with a casual 11km of skating on the frozen lakes there. I went from a personal best 60km bike ride to hitting 100km three weeks later and rode multiple big rides that summer. I liked what I saw, but still I was nagged by a sense that I wasn’t adventurous.
I don’t do New Years resolutions, but one of my goals for 2022 is to be more adventurous. I wrote below my recap some goals for 2022:
Paddle in each month of the year (dare I say 52 paddles, Jennifer?)
Go on multiple overnight kayak trips
Get back on my bike (the hills here can’t be that bad, can they?!)
Learn to be more adventurous, but also…
Learn to be happier with the adventures I do
My adventure journal, where I used to track my kayak paddles and where I took a lot of notes on compass navigation and wind that…sort of still make sense?
With these goals laid out on paper, the next question was how to fulfil them. Along with the self-doubt or lack of confidence I’ve been feeling, I am also more and more aware of the long-running burnout dogging me through the pandemic. I feel far less motivated, and far lazier, than I think I should be at this stage of my life. I’m needing accountability, a better reason to get out than “just because,” and probably some help in my journey to adventure.
And so, here we are. A blog because I don’t have time for more. A blog because it holds me accountable. A blog because I was once a half-decent writer and I want to see if I still am (am I?).
I’m curious about what “adventure” really is, for me and for others. Can things be adventurous if they aren’t epic expeditions? Can things in my daily life become adventures? I want to explore my excuses for not being adventurous and flesh out how I can overcome those – yes blogs are just cheap self-therapy sessions!
At the end of the year, I want to be able to read back and measure that last goal, “learn to be happier with the adventures I do,” see how I’ve grown, become more adventurous, learned what adventure really is, and become happier with adventure in my life. I want to go back to Jennifer and show her how she inspired me.
It'll be an adventure!
Onward, adventure awaits just across the horizon!
