- Adventure tourism - Tour companies who organise an adventure experience for you in some exotic locale, many with a certain amount of perceived risk.
- Adventure sports - If people find something to do together, they will find a way to compete to see who does it better, faster or longer!
- Adventure racing - Competition between expedition teams using varous modes of transport over an unmarked, hazardous course.
- Adventure therapy - The idea that exposure to adventure has positive psychological effects. Long-standing organisations and studies show the effectiveness of this.
- Adventure education - The idea behind this is more holistic in that the goals are focussed more on the journey that the participants take to face their problem.
In theory I like all of these. Travel, especially to countries and cultures other than your own which takes you out of your comfort zone, can be rewarding and adventurous. I've always liked the idea that vacations and travel should have a purpose, that you need to actually have something that you want to do when you travel somewhere. With regards to the idea of adventure making changes to self image: absolutely! I would go so far as to say that this is the purpose of many 'rite of passage' traditions that cultures all over the world have in common.
My problem with them is the impression that adventure is something you can only buy, sell, rent or give to people. Like any item of value, there are those who can easily craft it from their talent, skill and experience built up over years, but with perseverence and study you can create your own! Whilst placing yourself into a new and interesting environment can be a factor in adventure, don't fall into the trap of thinking that excitement is unattainable without the cost of travel and equipment. You can have very real adventures by expanding the boundaries of knowledge and experience in your own backyard, quite literally!
How do you craft your own adventure? The same way you create anything, from a house or a car to a hat or a boot! You need to understand what it is, what you want, what the safety limitations are, listen to the experience of others who are experts.
Adventure is not outside man: it is within
The conundrum of what adventure is and why it is such a driving force behind the glorication of dodgy hijinks, is best found by looking into our own nature. The series of articles in Wikipedia on adventure are, as is usually the case, accessible portals to a deeper study but I particularly like their generalisation that "adventurous experiences create psychological arousal [see Zuckerman], which can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear) or positive (e.g. flow)."
Psychological arousal from fear? No, not that kind of arousal. Conquering fear is certainly an accomplishment however that's not what we're talking about but rather managed levels of fear such as enjoying a roller coaster ride, sky diving or bungy jumping. This is the very reason we watch horror movies.
There are more than enough sources on Wikipedia to do a deep dive into the science behind this but, on a superficial level, I found the diagram that illustrated Csikszentmihalyi's flow model (right) to be intuitively enlightening.
- If you are faced with a high level challenge but your skill level is low (top left of the diagram), you will feel anxiety or fear.
- If you have a high skill level to face the challenge you feel the experience of flow (top right).
- If you have a medium level of skill, you will feel arousal and that, I think, is the sweet spot!
This correlates with the fact that a challenging project for which you are ill prepared can be a risky adventure that can have you nervous - not preferable but as long as that risk, the danger, is controlled, you will find it fulfilling as a challenge met and survived. Would it be fair to say that a challenge that you meet with a high degree of skill, eg. riding a bicycle in city traffic every day, could be overcome too easily and thus less fulfilling? Could this be why the median between the two leads to 'arousal'.
This is a good segue into the work of Jon Levy whose book The 2 AM Principle: Discover the Science of Adventure was the subject of a popular article on The Science of the Perfect Night Out in GQ (and elsewhere) where he lists four elements of adventurous behaviour...
- Constraints. “What we know from the brain is we get the most enjoyment from activities just outside of our skill zone. Like a video game that is fun because it is almost too hard.” This correlates with Csikszentmihalyi's flow model, above.
- Team. “A great group can make the most awful location fun.” Not sure about this. How do you explain those who adventure alone? I think this has more to do with his party manefesto although no successful adventurer is a rock unto themselves. They all have mentors and supporters.
- Movement. “Your brain operates differently when you change location.” Hmmm, well this could line up with exploration as adventure and the idea of 'the quest'.
- Mission. “This drives group behavior, causes outsiders to want to join, and helps you get out of your comfort zone.” Every endeavour of any worth has to have a purpose, however what about the pursuit of adventure for it's own sake?
At this point I have to point out that most reviews of his book pan it as shallow hedonism and the focus on the construction of 'a great night out' does deflect from considering his points in a larger context. I think he is on stronger ground when he is reported as saying that 'people seemed to have the most fun when three elements were present:
- The experience was remarkable—worth talking about.
- There was adversity or perceived risk.
- It brought about growth—you were a different person at the end.
Glory, risk and growth, these have always been seminal aspects of adventure!
