The Gift of Adventure by Sonya Weiss

The season often makes me reflect on some of the best gifts I’ve ever received. One in particular stands out from my childhood. Mom and Dad bought me a pair of roller skates before I’d even started school. I have an old photograph of that Christmas morning with me trying on the skates, a huge smile on my face. I was five years old.

I learned how to skate across the hardwood floors in the home we lived in and from there, I was on skates more often than not. I skated on sidewalks, in the road, and at the local roller skating rink.

I didn’t realize until years later that it wasn’t so much the skates that were the gift. It was the adventures that came with them. The friends I’d hang out with at the rink. The friends I’d skate outside with. I’d skate everywhere. Exploring neighborhoods beyond my own.

I was a tough kid. More of a tomboy than not. I loved to push myself with jumps, spins and the fast breaking that took you almost to the brink of falling. I loved the thrill and the daring. Of course, there were falls. But I bore the road rash and bruises like badges of honor and I’d get right back up and speed away again. I wasn’t afraid to fall. It was part of the adventure.

Somewhere along the line, I learned to play a little safer. Maybe it was getting older. You don’t bounce back from a fall quite as easily. You do more sitting on the sidelines. The sad thing is that can happen to all of us in life. We learn to take fewer chances, fewer risks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The adventures are fewer and fewer until we get to the point where we can’t remember the last time we did anything we could label an adventure because we’re afraid to fall.

So this year, I hope you give yourself the gift of adventure. I hope you decide to take the trip that leaves you slightly fearful. I hope you make the change that you want to try but you’ve been hesitating. I hope you write that book. I hope you talk to that cute guy or girl. I hope you take the chance on whatever you’ve been holding back on. You might fall, but it’s part of the adventure.