Vanilla Vice: Venturing Beyond Home Base

Undoubtedly, I'm adventurous, but warning: I'm only a little (key word: little) rebellious; I like to stay within my lines most days. And you've probably got streaks of rebellion in you too; but, that's besides the point. I would not characterize most of what gets attributed to me as "adventurous," but as intentional and mostly-calculated moments of risk-taking outside of the usual lines I color. But, those lane lines have changed and continue to change. And your life outline or footprint has likely changed too. Are they drifting or are you resetting them?

Boundaries are an increasingly common topic (and you should have those), but what I am defining as life contours are not. Don't get me wrong- I believe it is imperative to have healthy rhythms, set limits, and have comforts, but how might we redefine our routines? Can we regularly exploit our "adventurous" side regularly to do this? Must we wait for special invitation events, vacations, and birthdays to live "adventurously"? I'd argue not.

Butter Pecan or Vanilla Ice Cream with Buttered Pecans

I'll be the first to tell you that I am pretty vanilla when it comes to taste- I like trying new foods, but my staples are literally vanilla. When I was in late elementary school/early middle school, I tried pralines and cream ice cream. Those of you that know me, know where there is going...Thinking it was an entirely new flavor, I declared that I liked an entirely new flavor of ice cream. Instead, I had just found a variation of vanilla or vanilla with some caramel-ribboned and candied nuts that I also liked LoL. Yet, my life contour had expanded (and now also includes butter pecan). I took a base, tried it, and expanded. It's pretty first-principles if you think about. You take something you know and build from it. What's your vanilla?

And it does not have to be additive. I am also NOT asking you to go crazy and reinvent yourself. Sometimes, life asks an acquired taste or you fuse something you like with something you don't like. Growing up- I did not care much for country music (gasp). But, I have always liked to dance. And so was birthed my interest in line dancing. Farmer's market? Similar expansion. I tried from a known life contour.

Adventure is important; we don't need to make it dependent or coincident with celebration. And sometimes, we need to save up for it, but let's not live life everyday beholden to the rules of somebody else's game. Much of what I have incorporated into my routine was birthed out of this idea.

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