Welcome to this episode of our podcast, where we’ll be exploring the topic of living your childhood dreams. Do you remember the dreams you had when you were a child? Maybe you dreamed of becoming an astronaut, a musician, or a superhero. Whatever your childhood dream was, as we grow up, many of us let go of these dreams, thinking they are just fantasies that cannot be achieved. However, in this episode, Chris shares about his intentionality to pursue his childhood dreams and made them a reality.
I met Chris at a Camp FI event in January where he discussed what Life Outside the Maze looks like for him. In my book and on this podcast I talk about the importance of community, finding people a few rungs ahead of you on the adventure ladder and supporting them and learning from them. Being nearly a month into our family gap year, I knew this was the episode that I was going to need to hear to remind me of many of the things we discussed in this episode.
Chris is a named inventor on over a dozen patents, a musician, a teacher, a husband, and a father. As a technologist and entrepreneur, he has an appetite for innovation, risk and adventure. Chris spent much of his career trying to get ahead until he made a choice to stop working for money and start working for himself for happiness. You might now find Chris treasure diving in Florida, working as a part-time professor, or writing online at LifeOutsideTheMaze.com You can connect with Chris at lifeoutsidethemaze.com or email him at me@lifeoutsidethemaze.com
Speaking of our family gap year, last week’s episode highlighted our first week, however you can get the weekly updates on our email list (make sure to choose the family gap year adventure topic) and see a bit of the behind the scenes on our Instagram @ordinarysherpa. If you would like to hear more about our Family Gap Year, you might want to listen to these three episodes:
- 087 | How to Quit a Job You Love
- 099 | 60 days from Departure {Family Gap Year}
- 108 | Winter Camping and Skiing {Gap Year Diaries}
Before I get into the key takeaways I want to mention that I too found that the metric that was most important was joy and I discuss it pretty extensively in my Book. Secondly the basis of his learning had significance to the simple everyday adventures. I would agree. Everyday Adventures has been the foundation to our family gap year and even though we are doing a few grand things, it is the simple things that bring us together and give meaning to the adventurous lifestyle.
Key Takeaways
- As Chris was in a critical career meeting he reflected on some advice and thought “this isn’t happiness. This is stressful and difficult. How much stress is enough? Today happiness looks like time for family, more time for adventures, and personal growth.
- Adventures ranged from simple stuff from exploring a nearby cave he was curious about, paddle boarding more, picking up the kids after school and asking better questions to be more present with them. On the childhood dreams side it was being an archeologist, dive for sunken treasure, and how to fight.
- To begin living his childhood dream it started by reaching out to a local museum, calling a phone number on a website. Being curious and not being afraid to ask questions. Find people doing the things you are interested in and make the call and make a connection.
- Your dreams are unique to you which is what makes them special. It doesn’t matter if it’s weird to anyone else, if the experience makes you smile it was worth it.
- Money wasn’t the barrier to doing most of these adventures. It was having the space to plan and then putting an intention behind it. Like Chris mentioned, all in the dinosaur dig was less than a thousand dollars, and many items on bucket lists are free. Putting the intention behind it to take action is key.
- The way you feel is more important than the grandiosity of the experience.
- The greatest impact isn’t 1 thing. It’s a wholistic river of experiences that I get to dip my cup into.
- Living an adventurous life with kids he is mindful that he doesn’t want his kids to think they live a life of luxury or have a distorted world view. By balancing the big with the simple adventures encourages them to be creative in how they do adventure and also it’s the product of hard work.
- Chris has countless examples of where in the midst of gradios experiences, it was the simple thing like a free rope swing in Costa Rica that the kids remember.
- As a reflection coming out of cancer “the things we worry the most about, aren’t the things that matter.”
If you would like to do more simple adventures with your family or accountability to put the intention and make the space to add more adventure to your life you might consider joining the Everyday Adventure Challenge. In this 60-day adventure challenge I help your family create an adventure list to show up in your own life and connect as a family. You will bring simple adventures to life leading to memorable family experiences. You can expect weekly adventure tips, ideas, and support via email; and we’ll bring the entire everyday adventure family tribe together throughout the challenge to share adventure ideas, wins and struggles. The challenge will run from March 1- May 1. Registration is open now, but will close on Tuesday, February 28th. To register go to: https://ordinarysherpa.com/challenge