It seems that we have hit that low point in winter. When the temperatures across the country all got a memo that it’s time to drop 20 degrees. I have been seeing posts and stories across social media and just hearing from friends that “this was not the type of weather we were expecting in Florida or in Texas or in California.”
I’m chuckling a little bit, cause we’re sitting in single digits in Wisconsin and struggling a little bit, but at least the sun is shining. So we’re really embracing the sun because that alone brightens our spirits. And we have this project, I’ve been wanting to build an igloo for years and every time I finally get all the stuff and I figure out how to do it, the weather warms up and it melts. So it’s been this kind of curse of the cold, where I get this idea. I get all excited about it. But then it ends up taking too long and melts. So kind of half heartedly, joking, happy that I’m so excited. It’s cold because I’ve got layer three started on the igloo. So I’m hoping it actually gets done this year.
I wanted to come back to the roots of this podcast, which is to inspire families to connect and using adventure. Sometimes I focus more on the adventure and sometimes I focus more on the connection. I want to talk a little bit about an opportunity to connect and inviting you all to connect, because I think that is just the state of the world. It is one of those things that I am valuing and benefiting from. And I hope all of you are too.
A friend of mine was commenting the other day that, you know, even, I think this was in North Carolina, she’s like, we just got like an inch of snow in those, the whole state shut down. Her daughter wanted to go outside so she took all this time to get her bundled up and then her daughter was outside for like 10 minutes before coming back in. And it just, it feels like a lot of work, things feel like a lot of work.
I wanted to invite you into the everyday adventure challenge, but really it’s an invitation. It’s an invitation to connect, to have a weekly. Inspiration challenge, or opportunity to think about adventure a little bit differently. I get in a rut, especially this time of year. Where we just get stale or the lull of the season is hard to overcome, it can be cold and dark early. Being cooped up all this time and having. Having very frigid temperatures in some cases, and our kids have been together a lot lately. So we actually need some time apart in some ways. But what I need as a mom is to connect with other moms because I also have felt like all the things of the world have been landing on my shoulders. I just want to know, like, what are you doing? What are you doing over there? What’s working or not working? The everyday adventure challenge has been happening for quite a while. I wanted to share what adventure wins have looked like from past participants. to invite all of you to participate and explore what adventure could look like for your family?
The Everyday Adventure Challenge is structured as a 60 day challenge or invitation to get outside of your comfort zone in a simple way. The challenges are delivered each week via email. The cohort does virtual meet ups each month, a virtual meeting. The virtual meetups have some structure based on the previous adventure but also an opportunity to ask each other questions. What did you do this week? What’s working for you. What questions do you have? We have a little mini group coaching sessions, and then each week there’s this weekly challenge. It’s a great opportunity to expose yourself to other adventurous families. A way to think differently about what adventure might look like for you.
It’s been fun for me. I’ve really enjoyed coming to this community to really get to know, what are you struggling with? What are you working on? I give all participants my adventure lists for the season we are in. Or different restrictions like when we travel, I have an adventure list not necessarily of the destinations that we’re going to but how are we going to be on vacation? I know that sounds weird, but when you’re cooped up in an airport or you’re sitting in a car for a long period of time, that transit time is really close together time and things can get really tense really quick. We have found when we can break things up and have mini adventures on our travels, it really helps us look forward to the next thing, but also distract and deflect some of the energy that maybe we need to shift it in a different direction. I do include a travel adventure list and I know we’ve done seasonal things and every season’s a little bit different. I walk through our process for creating the adventure list. Our kids are always helping us create the list. While I have experience there is always great expertise and sharing among the group.
And while it sounds like, “you’re just making a list?” It’s more than that. It’s not about being creative. This is not a Pinterest party where the most creative person wins. It’s a way to redefine what winning looks like. To decide what boxes your family is going to check over the next 60 days. So I wanted to share, I thought the best way to really get you into the groove of.
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.
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- Spring
June 5th to August 5th- Summer
September 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!