Something that Josh and I have really learned to appreciate is the stage of life we’re in. We’re young, well more like mid twenty year olds, married, no kids, and love for life together.

Over the last few months, I felt like I was wasting the precious time we had in this glorious stage of life. Don’t get me wrong, I cherish the quiet evenings of cuddling on the couch watching “Getting Out Alive” and making fun of how bad the contestants are at making shelter. But I also was getting a growing sense that this was becoming the norm,  not the “every now and then.”

So we put a renewed focus on getting back to the roots of adventuring and exploring and we’ve had an incredible time. We’ve since gone sky diving, gone to a Royals baseball game, tried new restaurants, joined a new gym, and hike a 13,000+ foot mountain! It’s also led me to think about why it’s important for us to not let these wonderful years zip past us with out fully embracing them

Memories of experiences strengthen our marriage

There have been so many times when we are eating dinner and one of us will say something to the effect of “Hey remember that time we walked to Canada,” or “I still can’t believe we walked eight miles in one day in Puerto Rico.” We often ask each other questions like what had been your favorite adventure, or if you could relive any adventure which would it be. I frequently look back at our pictures of travels and adventures and replay them in my mind. They bring back such fun memories of what we have gotten to do together. The memories of good times have helped us through rough times and help us fall in love with each other all over again.

 Gives us something to look forward to

I live for more adventures. Not because I’m greedy and am never satisfied, but I enjoy the excitement of looking forward to something, even if it’s a year away. It makes it feel like we’re moving toward something, not just going through the motions of life. It also keeps a sense of adventure and excitement in all areas of our life. While yes, we love to travel to other places, that spirit of adventure has affected our daily life also. We can’t always just up and leave, so now we see our city as a place to explore and discover new adventures in. This has lead us to finding a cute ice cream shop, new restaurants, festivals, and parts of town we never knew existed.

Ideal time

We’re at a great stage in life for this and I don’t want to let it pass without taking advantage of it. We’ve been married for a bit and have a great friendship in marriage. We’re financially in a better spot and can actually make it a priority to save for adventures. We have responsibilities, as we’re both working full time and have other responsibilities, but we don’t have kids yet or many other commitments that would shift our priorities.

What I am not saying.

1. I am not saying your life is over when you have kids. Ok, so don’t even go there. I am merely stating that we’re at a point in life where we have a lot more freedom and we’re taking advantage of that. We fully intend to travel as a family and continue with the spirit of adventure in kid’s childhoods. But let’s be realistic, we can’t just up and go on a road trip and sleep on the side of the road very easily when you have kids.

2. I am not saying that in order to enjoy life you have to be constantly busy. I am saying, it is really easy to slip into a comfort zone that you don’t want to break. Sure it’s more comfortable to stay home and watch tv, and I’m not saying you can’t have great memories on quiet nights at home. But I am also saying this stage of life is an awesome opportunity to go experience different things, but you have to make it a priority to go out and do it, other wise, it’s easy to just stay home. We have worked hard to find balance of having a certain number of nights home by ourselves and the other nights spent with friends or out doing activities.

Whether you do it a lot or a little, I hope you make the time to adventure. Life is far too short to spend it in front of the tv. Adventure on my friend.