Over the past couple of years, my wife and I have been increasing our appetite for adventure. This has been built slowly throughout our marriage. Since my wife’s fight with cancer in 2016, our zest for life and adventure has been a focus.
Yes, my wife won and kicked cancers ass! Her fight with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma inspired the name for our wellness practice “One Life Wellness Coaching.” Every day, I am reminded that we are only promised one life. We must live it to our best with no regrets.
Every adventure has a reason and a meaning. There will be adventures where we know instantly why we’ve completed it or participated in it and sometimes it takes time for things to sink in and make sense.
In August of 2019, we completed an endurance challenge in Utah called 29029 Everesting. This is an event we signed up for in January. We’ve traveled together & worked out together, but we’ve never joined a challenge like this together. We knew we had eight months to train and prepare for the challenge.
Our training gave us so many valuable lessons and insights. The one that really changed our lives is our daily habit of walking that turned into jogging and now running. We trained five days a week. We would wake up extra early and exercise between 5:55 am and 7:05 am. This was just enough time to get back home for school and bus. Our average distance daily was three miles. We even toughed it out during the winter months and on rainy days. This, my friends, was not our norm. Through implementing new daily habits, we’ve changed over time to become the best versions of ourselves. My wife amazed me during these times with her positive attitude and continual drive to get better, faster and healthier. She is an amazing lady! Four months before the challenge, we started utilizing our Saturdays to hike long distances. Sometimes we would invite other families to hike with us or just go it alone. We created a community hike every Tuesday evening at a large mountain in our area, set a time to meet and complete two hikes up the mountain. At the end, we ate a meal in the parking lot as a family.
The anticipation of preparing for something great, something challenging and different is amazing! It has the power to bring adventure beyond what you would expect or think. The training provided so many opportunities for connection. Our daily training created opportunity for my wife and I to talk, discuss life, and share with one another. This is a lost art for married couples in our busy lives. It brought us closer together by allowing time for us to share our hopes and dreams. I am grateful for the time spent walking, hiking & running with my wife. There’s something remarkable when you step out of your comfort zone as a couple, focus on one common goal together, and love each other through it.
This experience grew our marriage and we also included others into our adventures so they could savor life too. The actions, which seemed to happen naturally, were life changing. I believe this is how we build a community; we share our adventures and embrace the challenge of doing things that are outside of our comfort zone together.
I tell you this story because the destination is only one part of adventure. It’s all the decisions you make to get to the destination and who you encourage along the way that changes who you are. Go out today and life your best life by creating space for relationship with your spouse or significant other. Bring in your friends and family for adventure and savor the time you spend together.
If there is a burning desire in you to put an epic adventure on your calendar, but you’re not sure, I’d love to talk. The work that I do with clients helps them step outside of their own limiting belief systems and into what’s possible. Contact me today for a free 20-minute Strategy Session.
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