Be Adventuresome
It is Time to Restore the Excitement to Your Life
For much of the past two years, we were buried in bad news, trudging along, just hoping to survive. Our biggest risks were often mundane: going to work or the grocery store, talking to another human being. We spent so much cognitive energy trying to stay safe and keep up with events that we had little left to pursue the types of big, frightening-yet-exciting adventures that expand our lives.
Psychologist find that new situations, especially ones that seem dangerous, force us to confront our fear. This fear confrontation will actually boost our mood by making us feel less stressed, less tired and even euphoric. From clinical research studies - “An adventure gets us out of our patterns and helps show us our own competence. We get to see that things will turn out well, or that we can cope if they don’t.”
You don’t have to free solo Yosemite’s El Capitan or zipline down Mt. Bachelor to reap benefits. Any adventure—where you stretch yourself and learn something new—counts.
Are you ready for your next adventure? Here is some advice from renown psychologists:
Start Small - The risks you’re up for now might look different from the ones you took before the pandemic. That’s OK. Pick a manageable activity you can do soon—this weekend!—close to home. This will break your inertia, build your confidence and help you ramp up to bigger adventures. “Taking gradual steps teaches your brain that the experience is not as bad as you expected and you can handle it,” says Jacqueline Sperling, a clinical psychologist at the McLean Anxiety Mastery Program.
Shift your view of anxiety - Research from Harvard University shows that people who interpreted their nervousness about activities such as karaoke singing and public speaking as excitement enjoyed the experiences more and performed better than those who tried to tamp down their anxiety. This changed their threat mind-set into an opportunity mind-set, says Samantha Boardman, a New York psychiatrist and author of “Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strength.” Try talking to yourself out loud, saying: “I am excited” or “Let’s get excited.”
Use your imagination - Envision the worst-case scenario. Say you want to go on a hike but are worried you’ll become lost, hurt or too exhausted to get home. Try to picture this. Next, visualize the best-case scenario: the beautiful view, the fun you’ll have, your sense of accomplishment afterward. Now ask yourself what will probably happen. Are you more likely to feel happy after your hike, or to be carried off the mountain in a stretcher? This exercise helps put fear in perspective, says Dr. Boardman.
Tap into regret - It can be very motivating. Think about whether you’ll feel disappointed if you miss out on this interesting, expansive experience or glad you stayed home. (Another way to put it: Will you be proud you bit the bullet and took the adventure, or proud that you didn’t?) “We tend to regret actions we don’t take rather than ones we do,” says Dr. Boardman. “So the fear of missing out can help you.”