Experiencing Life

In An inheritance of experience from  Blue Skunk Blog, Doug Johnson talks about what legacy he wants to leave his grandchildren. He states, “…I do hope they will inherit is a taste for adventure, a love of travel, and the courage to try new foods and experiences.”

When my husband talked me into retiring as soon as we had the required years of employment completed, I was a little worried about leaving my wonderful career.

The statement that convinced me was when he said that he wanted us to travel while we were young enough and healthy enough to go where we wanted. If we got tired of traveling, I could always return to teaching. I had expected to return to teaching after five years though and didn’t even get rid of my boxed-up supplies and teaching materials during that time. Eventually, I realized that a lot of things I had were soon obsolete and out of date, so I let them go.

Now that I look back at the past twelve years, I realized that we had made the right choice. We have been able to make so many good memories and when we get in poor health, we will have these memories to look back on.

During our travels, I have been able to meet so many new people, learn about so many new cultures, learn new things, and have new experiences. This would not have happened if I had not retired.

It is so easy to stay where you feel comfortable and know what to expect most of the time. It is hard to let go of this and head for the unknown.

The more and more we head for the unknown and when each adventure is successful, it makes me more comfortable to try some more. If we hit obstacles or things don’t turn out as expected, we just look at it as a different kind of adventure.

I consider an adventure anything that doesn’t cause us bodily harm or break the bank. As long as we are together, our adventures are great ways to experience life.

It is hard to share this with my college students though because they have a huge world of “unknowns” in front of them. They are looking for security and paycheck that they can count on.

I just ask them to be open up to the idea about experiencing life. Don’t accept the comfortable if an opportunity comes up to have an adventure. Be open to new ideas. You don’t have to leave the country or even your own town for an adventure. Don’t let life pass you by.

How do you experience life? How do you convince your students to do this? Please share.

Photo by Catherine McMahon on Unsplash