Micro-Adventures During Quarantine: A Healthy Mindset for 2020

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What is travel to you? I remember the first places I dreamed of visiting and assumed that traveling had to be big overseas adventures. There are so many people still stuck in this mindset, and it’s why so many of us feel stuck right now? We’ve never learned to slow down and revel in the little adventures. We’ve talked about slow living taking the time to appreciate the things around you can help you cope. A facet of the same discussion is enjoying micro-adventures during quarantine.

Your Definition of Travel

How we define travel is going to change how we see our current situations drastically. If you only view travel as going on safaris in Tanzania.. you’re 100% accurate that you can’t ‘travel.’ However, if you look at traveling as a more broad scope of experiences, you’re going to feel more fulfilled. So how do I, Shelby Lamb, define travel? How do I allow myself to feel contentment in times when I can’t catch a flight somewhere exotic? To Evan and I:

The definition of travel is removing oneself from normal surroundings to experience something new.

Having such a broad definition of ‘traveling’ makes everything a new experience. We don’t have to catch a flight to find a new adventure! The term micro-adventure isn’t something my dad made up, but I remember he used to call every little weekend trip a ‘micro-adventure’. From something as simple as trying a new restaurant to stargazing- your adventures during quarantine don’t have to be limited!

Why Do You Travel?

A big part of the reason we chose to define travel this way is that it helps us find contentment in our surroundings and to experience life more fully. If you want to understand how your definition of travel impacts you: ask yourself why you travel?

For an ADD-afflicted individual like myself- I feel more comfortable in my wandering spirit. The quote, ‘Not all those who wander are lost.’ – J.R.R. Tolkien, makes me feel more normal. I genuinely love to learn and try new things, and I don’t think I was made for the life of a 7-4 job.

What drives you to travel? Is it because you’re running away from something? Do you find experiencing new cultures and foods makes you feel alive? Whatever the reason, make sure it’s not traveling for the wrong reasons. { Having a limited view of travel will have you burnt out and sick of traveling before you know it! }

Travel Has Become a ‘Culture’

The culture of ‘wanderlust’ is something we’ve seen for a while now. People go go go to fill their Instagram feeds, without ever pausing to understand what it is they really want out of travel. (AKA the wrong reasons to be traveling.) The silver lining in closing borders around the world is that we’re forced to consider why we’re traveling and what’s truly important.

If you travel for the right reasons, you’ll take advantage of micro-adventures during quarantine. These small adventures are still exciting and rewarding, but we’re becoming numb to them because they aren’t always Instagram worthy. Re-learn what it means to be an adventurer during this time and take back your joy in small things.

Slow Living and Micro-Adventures

In a post I wrote earlier during the Great Quarantine of 2020, we reviewed some thoughts on how to find joy in slow living. How to find joy in everyday moments is an exercise in becoming grateful by reflecting on the things and people you do have. Something I didn’t think about though is how slow living impacts your adventures. Can you remember every piece and every part of every life experience? Probably not if you were focused on getting the right pictures for Instagram, or checking things off of a bucket list.

You can remember all of your adventures so much more clearly if you adventure slowly. If you want to be able to tell your grandkids how amazing it was to eat ice cream with your partner by the river, you need to remember to take that micro-adventure and enjoy the moment.

I know what you’re thinking: ‘I’m supposed to be staying in my house though..?’

And that’s true but being asked to social distance doesn’t mean you can’t take a walk, camp in the backyard, or stargaze. Find joy in the small things, and take advantage of quarantine as a reset. These micro-adventures during quarantine are just rewarding and freeing enough, without the stress of an extensive trip.

New People = New Adventures

Even if it’s the same road trip to the same cabin year after year, going with different people makes the adventure new. Obviously, we’re still social distancing, but that doesn’t mean we will be all year. Plan for new micro-adventures now? Go on little hiking mini adventures with friends? Remember our definition of travel, ‘anything that causes you to remove oneself from your normal surroundings to experience something new.’

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