You Are Made for Adventure

It is a silly gift, but I’m sure it will be useful.

And I bet it will be a lot of fun.

Kathy gave it to me for Christmas.

It is called "The Georgia Adventure Bucket List." The box (pictured above) contains fifty scratch-off cards. Each card is an adventure recommendation we can do together in Georgia.

At the bottom of each scratch-off card is a key. This key gives us hints on the yet-to-be-scratched-off adventure.

The key includes:

Is this an indoor or outdoor adventure?

What is the best season of the year to take this adventure?

How expensive will this adventure be? Measured in $ signs.

What is the best time of day to embark upon this adventure?

How much time will this adventure take?

Is this an active or laid-back adventure?

Is a meal involved?

Kathy gave me this gift not knowing that I was already thinking about adventures and life. I read recently in a devotional, "We were made for adventure.”

This simple sentence set my mind racing.

I began to think of all my adventures in life. I started the adventure of life long before I realized there was such a thing as an adventure. It all started with my first spank and the cry that followed. As my lungs filled with air for the first time, I began my biggest adventure ever—the adventure of life.

With this new view of seeing my life as a series of adventures, I started listing all my adventures.

Attending kindergarten

Switching to a Catholic school from a public school in first grade

Joining Little League baseball

Matriculating into a Jesuit military high school in NYC

Spending a summer in Miami Beach as a young teen with my sister and working part-time

Attending the University of Miami

Working as a summer intern in Germany in 1973 where I learned no one spoke English

Beginning my career as a professional in a CPA firm

Becoming a partner in a software startup

Getting married

Starting a family

Selling our company and beginning a corporate career as a professional General Manager

Going to my first AA meeting

Coming to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior

Seeing my oldest daughter get married and become a father-in-law

Becoming a grandfather at the birth of my first grandchild

I could keep going, but you get the picture. My life has been a series of adventures. I never thought of my life this way in the past. But now I do, and it was these new and ever-evolving adventures that made my life so challenging and yet enjoyable. Every adventure, including some that I initially thought would be bad, like becoming unemployed, made me the man I am today.

Each adventure shared these elements:

Purpose

Focus

Risk

Reward

Learning

Growing

Developing

Excitement

Adventures give purpose.

When an adventure began, my purpose became crystal clear. I had to define what success looked like for me. With some adventures, this is easy as society predefined it, like graduating college in four years with a good GPA. With other adventures, it took some time and thought to define success, like when I became a grandfather.

Then I had to figure out how to achieve this success. Oftentimes, with a cloudy definition of success and no plan, I just showed up and lived one day at a time. After all, I was in the adventure. I had no choice. But with time, I would eventually come up with a plan. It was the struggles while on the adventure that made the adventure so exciting. What made my life on that adventure so exciting?

An adventure we all shared was going to college. The purpose was to do well academically and socially. Success was defined as graduating in four years with a degree that would land me a job providing a living wage and an exciting career path.

I started in the school of engineering. My goal was to become a mechanical engineer. After two semesters, I was told this would not be my path in life.

Now what? I needed a new plan to achieve the four-year success goal. This led me to become an undeclared major, then to an internship in Germany, and finally back to school, majoring in accounting. It would make sense to you if I shared the details of these transitions. But let’s leave it at this: it all happened because I was on an adventure.

Adventures keep us moving at their speed, not ours.

I was never equipped for any of the adventures I embarked upon. Because of this, I knew I had a good chance of failing. But the risk of failing was offset by the rewards of succeeding. This tension is what kept me focused on the purpose of the adventure. Once I was in, I was determined never to give up.

When I became a partner in my first startup, I had few of the skills or experience necessary to make it a success. But determined not to fail, I was open to learning anything and everything I needed to succeed at the next step. I wasn’t afraid to ask for anybody’s help. I was always fortunate enough to be surrounded by great people who were willing to help me.

Each step in the adventure provided me with an opportunity to fail; sometimes I did. But success always came after getting back up and trying again and again. Working every day, some very long days, I learned selling, coding, managing, hiring, firing, designing, teaching, phone support, collections, borrowing from banks, cash flow, presenting, creating sales plans and incentive plans, budgeting and forecasting, and the list goes on.

And all this happened by simply saying “yes” to a startup adventure. Now you can see why I had to become an angel investor, another adventure I was only partially prepared for.

The adventure provides excitement.

Every adventure was challenging, but all of them were fun. It sometimes didn't feel that way when I was in the middle of it, especially when the wind was in my face. But the process of living the adventure was fun. Yes. The fun is in the run.

And achieving success at the end of the adventure was pure delight. It was a high I didn't want to end. But it did end, and so quickly, it felt abrupt. I remember when we sold our company. We exchange our ownership for money and a job. We worked on building that company for seven years, and then, one day, the startup adventure was over. The purpose was achieved, the risk-reward was realized, and it was time for my next adventure.

I had no idea what that next adventure might be, but it always showed up. Life goes on, and so do the adventures. And the new adventure was just as exciting as the one that preceded it. It took me some time to realize the new adventure would be worth the ride.

We are built for adventure.

And now I am going to be seventy-two in a couple of months. It is a new adventure. I’m not quite sure of this adventure.

I realized I am already in it. It is the adventure of living in my seventies. My most recent adventures of leading a nonprofit, leading a community organization, and being a professional angel investor are over. But this new adventure will be the most thrilling and frightening adventure I have ever undertaken.

This adventure's purpose is continued health and meaningful engagement with others. The definition of success is cloudy right now, but I am catching glimpses of what success might look like. But I am still not sure I see it. Despite this missing definition of success, the adventure continues. Every day is a new day with new challenges. Some of these challenges lack purpose, but I trust the adventure because I trust the creator of the adventure. The adventure envelops me. I’m in it. I must keep going.

Thinking back to my other adventures in life, I had much of the same thinking at one point in time or another. The risks in those adventures were external as well as internal. And this journey is no different. No matter what happened to me (external) in those adventures, I chose to go on or quit (internal). And this journey shares those very same elements, like risk and reward. Every day, I see the risks and the rewards of this adventure.

The risk of loss of physical and mental capacity.

The risk of becoming dependent.

The risk of life lacking meaning and purpose.

The risk of self-centeredness and isolation.

The rewards far outweigh the risks. Relationships are based on love without judgment. The influence I never knew I had or understood. The presence of God, like never before. Time to think at at an unencumbered higher level, a new perspective. The wisdom gained from a life lived with all its struggles and successes. Seeing more clearly what motivates me and others. Being surrounded by family and friends from multiple generations. Appreciating the richness of all these rewards of the seventies.

I know that the definition of success will become apparent as my adventure continues. It always did and will on this adventure, too. And I trust that this clarity will bring with it a new level of excitement, risk, and fulfillment.

The difficulty defines success.

It is so personal and yet so undefined. There are people I meet who are also on this seventies life adventure. Some tell me that success is to stay alive. Others are more achievement-oriented. They believe that there is more to be accomplished. These are the opposite ends of the scale of the definition of success for this adventure. I think my definition of success will be found somewhere between these two views.

I know there is much still to be achieved. Achievements centered on faith, family, and friends with an eye on helping others in ways I am not yet completely equipped to do.

There is a verse in the Old Testament where God speaks to the Israelites while they are still in captivity. They feel lost and abandoned. And God tells them.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity.”        

This is our God. He has me right where he wants me. This adventure begins in captivity and ends in freedom. God continues to love me and give me hope.

As we approach 2025, let us embrace our current adventure and the adventures to come in the new year. Some are major, long-term adventures, like living in my seventies. And then there are micro-adventures, like every card in my Georgia Adventure Bucket List box, trips overseas, interviews with interesting people, thoughts to share in articles, coaching sessions with exceptional entrepreneurs, and the ever-present macro adventures of marriage, family, and my relationship with God.

Yes. We were built for adventure. I am excited as I look to the New Year.

I wonder what adventures God has planned for each of us in 2025.