The greatest thing about going to the future is that it’s an adventure. And when it comes right down to it, every single human being is on an adventure, considering they’re all engulfed in their journey to the future at a brisk pace of one second per second.
Consider briefly the last time you ran from something. Not for exercise or for fun, and not for twenty feet or so—when was the last time you ran because you were afraid?
That doesn’t exclusively mean dangerous situations, either. It could have been a game of tag. It could have been that you dropped your wallet when walking down the sidewalk, and realized it fifteen minutes later. You’re still afraid, there’s still a weight on your chest, but this feeling is only in its sincerest form when you have three key ingredients. You always need something in front of you, and you always need something behind you, to start.
Which is an adventure, isn’t it? If you have something behind you alone, something pushing you forward, but no goal in mind—then what are you but prey to a predator? Perhaps this is time, sneaking up behind you as you toil around aimlessly through life. And what, I ask, is a goal ahead of you, without any driving force behind you? Essentially, a lost cause.
However, when these two things come together—a push and a pull—you need one more thing. Perhaps, when your parent or spouse or roommate tells you to do the dishes, you’re being pushed—and when you finish, you’ll have free reign over your own actions again—which certainly sounds like you’re being pulled. But this isn’t an adventure, is it? What could be the final piece that changes an errand into a quest of biblical scale?
The final piece is a story worth telling. No one on Earth wants to hear about the time you washed the dishes because your mother said so. No one wants to hear about the time you ran from someone in a game of tag, or dropped your wallet fifteen minutes ago. The most important ingredient in an adventure is the story with which it is remembered by.
Chances are you’ve heard of an adventure or two in your lifetime, and I’d wager that no matter your age or maturity you’ve wanted to go on adventure. However, in the long run, that strikes you as ‘too hard,’ or a ‘waste of time.’
One of the most important things I’ve learned was taught to me by the legendary Bruce Lee, who said, “If you love life, do not waste time—for time is what life is made up of.” Perhaps this is true for adventures: if you look for opportunities for adventures, you will never waste a single second in your life. Even small adventures are important, because small adventures add up into epic conquests in the long run. Therefore, I like to say, “If you love adventure, do not waste adventure, because adventure is what adventure is made up of.”