Today let’s talk about how a normal teen can have adventures. Maybe you live time zones away from the ocean or mountains, and everybody in your life is content with such a low dose of adrenaline that you wonder what keeps their hearts beating. You don’t need a passport or expensive outdoor gear or a different life to add adventures to your reality. Read on, my adventure-seeking friend!

1. Start Small
   • Borrow your neighbor’s cross-country skis or pick up a skateboard at a thrift store. Check out a library book and find some tutorials on YouTube to learn the basic skills. Start small and give a new hobby a shot!
2. Start Local
   • Find a local park, reserve, or trails, and try out those snowshoes from your uncle’s attic. The snorkel that your aunt used once? Ask her to borrow it (and ask for her tips). You don’t have to be in the turquoise Caribbean to have an adventure. Or start really local by having a campfire in your yard and making hobo dinners. Invite your elderly neighbors or pastor’s family. You’ll be glad you did. Don’t know what a hobo dinner is? It’s a refreshingly easy-to-make meal and my instructions are here.
3. Volunteer
   • Seriously. Volunteering has given me opportunities to work at a therapeutic horse stable for riders with physical and mental challenges in South Dakota, teach rock climbing in California, Wisconsin, and Minnesota (which led to taking a climbing certification course in North Carolina, a Wilderness First Aid course in Ohio, and going on a scouting trip in Kentucky), canoe in the Boundary Waters, help at a teen camp in Kenya, and play capture-the-flag with a bunch of energetic teenagers in the winter. The volunteering job description won’t always include “get close to wildlife on an African safari, watch military jets fly so close to you on a cliff that you can see the pilot’s eyebrows, and hike to iconic overlooks,” but you can safely bet that amazing adventures will come with volunteer work. A nursing home might not sound like an adventure, but if you read Victoria Grace, the Jerk Face, you’ll be begging the facility in your town to let you hang out with a resident. If you volunteer, you can plan to laugh until it hurts, meet friends, and wonder how you’re so blessed to have such meaningful experiences.
4. Read About Adventures
   • Seriously. People who imagine themselves lifting a weight gain proportionately more muscle mass than people who actually lifted weights. Not convinced? Read this. Reading is imagining yourself in the main character’s shoes, so reading about adventure is like having your own mini adventure (minus the extra laundry and cold fingers). Need adventure book recs? Try these:

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In this era of scrolling and comparing, it’s extra important to ride the waves, knowing that adventure seldom looks like an influencer’s curated posts. As Ben Rector sings in I Like You,: “Life is not the mountaintops; it’s the walking in-between.”

Unless you become an outdoor guide (which you totally could), every single day probably isn’t going to be jam-packed with post-worthy adventures, but that’s not the point. Start small, start local, volunteer, and read about adventures, and you’re sure to find some adrenaline, some cool stories, and some meaningful moments. You’ll also have some muddy clothes, bruises, and headaches, but it’ll all work together to prepare you for whatever waves come your way. Adventure awaits!