The Problems With New: How Adventurous Are You?

How adventurous are you?  On a scale of one to ten now, and remember, no one will know what you’ve decided.  Do you like challenges?  Are you happiest when you’re doing something you’ve never done before?  Do you get bored easily doing the same old, same old?  Then think of yourself as a ten, just a tad more cautious than say Harrison Ford in the Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Arnold the governor either in movies or real life.  After all, anybody who can govern California AND terminate life forms without remorse (on film, of course) is a classic ten.

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for iStock_000011473967XSmall[1].jpgHow about ones?  Do you prefer your own home and hearth to any other environment?  Do you eat the same breakfast, lunch and dinner whenever possible?  Have you watched Casablanca or even Sex and the City so many times you can mouth the dialogue, because you prefer no surprises in your entertainment, as in the rest of your life?  You’re a resident of One City.  And if you’re married, I bet you’re married to somebody who also enjoys a lack of surprise and is perfectly happy with mac and cheese every Friday night.

I fall somewhere in between.  I’ve traveled, seen some fabulous places, enjoyed a diversity of people as friends (Happiness Key had to come from somewhere, right?) I’ve explored a variety of interests.  But with all that, I have to give myself five, at most, because there are some areas where I don’t want things to change, and some times when transitions are so exhausting I’m tempted never to willingly plan one again.

So having admitted this, here I am, on a brand new computer it’s taken days to put in some kind of working order.  And here I am about to pack for a new adventure.  Next week I’ll travel to Western NY to stay in our summer cottage with only Tracy, Wanda, Janya and Alice for company–well, Maggie, too, but you don’t know Maggie yet.  The ladies of Happiness Key and I are going to hunker down with my new computer for three weeks and see how much of the final installment of their story I can write.  Just me, Nemo the friendly beagle, whatever varmints enjoyed the winter as our guests, and my neighbors at Chautauqua Institution. 

The travel?  Fun.  Breaking in a new computer?  EEEEK!

I may not always be adventurous, but I am looking forward to this new experience.  And now that I’ve figured out how to load my documents and software, I may enjoy the computer, too.  However, if I don’t blog for a little while?  You’ll have a variety of scenarios to consider:

1–The cable guy didn’t show up to install the Internet

2–Emilie couldn’t figure out how to configure the wireless

3–Emilie is so busy chasing mice around the cottage with a broom that she’s too tired to blog

4–Emilie and the ladies of the key are so immersed in Sunset Bridge without the normal interruptions that she’s yet to come up for air.

More likely I’ll be telling you what it’s like to write and write and write some more.  That may not sound like an adventure to some people, but those gutsy Florida gals are always willing to share their adventures with me, and frankly at least at those moments, I’m a ten once removed. 

Now that summer is almost here, I hope you’re planning to leap out of your easy chair and have an adventure or two of your own.  We’d love to hear if you’d love to tell us.  Just click on comment above.  Never tried that?  It’s an adventure.  Give it a whirl.

3 Comments

  1. Sylvia aka Toby Bobbitt on May 24, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    I would have to say I am a 7. When I was young I was a 10 all the way, every opportunity was an adventure (often fraught with risk). Now that I am older I still crave challenges but they are more work-related and have far less personal risk. I have more responsibilities now and frankly my reflexes (physical and cognitive) aren’t what they used to be! I ponder decisions now and look before I leap! Plus there’s that little voice in the background warning me – not my conscience…my husband!!

  2. Tana on May 25, 2010 at 10:20 pm

    Just finished “Happiness Key” and am searching your site to make sure there is another book about these wonderful women. So glad to read that you are working on one. Of course, I do realize that you will only be working on this book if you have figured out everything on the new computer, you aren’t chasing mice around the cottage, and your Summer neighbors aren’t visiting with you. Enjoy your Summer and hopefully we will be enjoying the new book on these great women soon! 🙂
    As far as being adventurous….maybe a five. Yes, a five. I love trying and doing new things, but it is a very slow process. I have to work up to it. Can’t rush into that is for sure.

  3. Emilie Richards on May 26, 2010 at 7:24 am

    So glad you liked Happiness Key. Watch for Fortunate Harbor at the end of June for the second installment. And it sounds like we’re twins in the adventure department.

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