The People With Whom We Adventure

While its true that getting out of the city for a hike, or to ski, or for some other adventure, can be difficult with a busy schedule, the most important thing for getting out is the people you go with. If you surround yourself with people who consistently say no, it is highly unlikely that you will get out as much as you hope. On the other hand, if you have friends who will always say yes, you will get out more. The key examples of this can be seen with my girlfriend and with my friends. Sitting in my basement having just finished high school, my girlfriend and I were watching the movie The Way. It was a film that outlined a fictional mans experience on the Pilgrimage, El Camino de Santiago and had both of us thinking wow, I want to go do that. After voicing those desires, it took a five minute discussion to decide we were going to do it and nine months later, we were sitting in the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela.

A similar situation happened while planning a trip to Japan in the fall. Planning another pilgrimage, this time in Shikoku, my friend and I told our friend and his brother about what we were doing. Their response was that sounds amazing. can we come? Finally, and possibly the best example, was on an early morning hike I went on this summer from which I got the photo attached to this post. At nine o'clock in the evening I texted my friend and said, "hey, wanna go for a hike tomorrow morning?" The response was, "yes, what time are we leaving?" When I said, "4:30 so we can be at the top for sunrise," i expected at least a bit of hesitation. The final response instead was, "ill pick you up with coffee. See you in the morning." If the people around you are always down for an adventure, not only will they end up going out with you more but they will also ask you to get out more.