Continuing with the subject of gratitude, this week’s post is about rediscovering a sense of adventure. There was a time when I was adventurous by nature. I think most of us are when we are young and unafraid of our own mortality. Then, as we get older, security becomes important and fear of losing it takes over, and slowly, the sense of adventure is lost. I know this isn’t true for everyone, but it has been for me.

While I’ll likely never be as brave (or reckless) as I was in my twenties (and that’s probably a good thing!), lately I’ve found myself taking risks that I never would have taken just a few short years ago. For example, on a trip through Arizona, I found myself staking out a spot very close to the edge of a 1000 ft. cliff in order to get a shot. This may not sound like a big adventure to some, but for me and my fear of heights, it was something of an accomplishment!

I was there for over an hour, and my knees were wobbly the whole time! The wind was blowing fiercely, and there were times when I thought it might blow me right over the edge. Which reminds me, I’m also grateful for my tripod, since I could never get a steady shot in a situation like this without it!

Then there was the time I set out with a friend on a five-mile hike to a place we had never been, armed with nothing but some vague directions printed off the internet. After following the directions as best we could, we came to a very steep drop-off. He went and looked over the edge, then came back to where I was resting. I said “that’s the trail, isn’t it?” He nodded and grimaced. We talked it over and decided we had come this far and were not going back without seeing the waterfall we came for. So we climbed (more like slid on our butts, actually) about 60 feet straight down, knowing that we would either have to figure out a way to get back up, or find another route back to the trail.

I don’t consider this to be one of my best waterfall images, but it has a special place in my heart because of the adrenaline induced adventure I went on to get there.

Not only that, but I got an appreciation for why they named this waterfall “Burstarse Falls.”

Climbing a ten foot snowbank was never on my list of things I wanted to do, until I found myself at Crater Lake in February. As it turns out, I will gladly scale a wall of snow left behind by the plows, if there is something worth photographing on the other side.

Admittedly, these are small adventures in comparison to the risks taken by those who thrive on thrill-seeking. But, for me, they are big departures from my comfort zone, and a revival of the wonderful feeling that it’s great to be alive. Or, as I heard recently in a talk given by filmmaker Kevin Smith, I’ve stopped asking myself “why?” and started asking myself “why not?”

Why not go someplace I’ve never been before? Why not get up before sunrise to shoot the dawn? Why not give up a steady, well-paying, but tedious job in order to fulfill my passion? Why not, indeed. And that has been, and continues to be, the biggest adventure of my life. So here’s to adventure, and passion, and uncertainty, and satisfaction, and the dawn. Why not?