The word “adventure” can have several different meanings depending on who the person is defining it. Adventure in my opinion, is a challenging, risk-taking quest that is not on your every day to do list. Others might consider it as an exciting experience that you may do every day. An adventure is not necessarily something that is impossible, but it should be out of your comfort zone. An adventure to one person may not be an adventure to somebody else, because of difficulty or how often you do it.
I am the type of person who loves trying new things and experiencing what they are like. A couple weeks ago, I skim boarded for the first time. I was at the beach with my friend and his little brother was a beast at skim boarding. He’s only 14 years old but was riding that thing like a pro. So I decided I was going to try it out. Now, I’ve been wake boarding and water skiing and am actually fairly good at it so I figured skim boarding would be no big deal. I was wrong. After numerous walkthroughs by my friend’s younger brother, I was finally ready to try it out. On my first attempt, I ended up going head first into the sand. So I got up and tried it again. On my second attempt, I fell on my knee which ripped three layers of skin off and almost got infected because of all the sand that got in it. By that point, I could barely walk, but I still didn’t give up. I was determined to master the skim board that has put me through so much pain already. After a couple more tragic falls, I got it. I wasn’t going very far but at the same time, I wasn’t falling on my face. So I went back to the beach house that night thinking of strategies that could allow me to go further.
The next day I was back at the beach trying it again. Overnight, the wounds on my knee had scabbed up so it felt a little better to walk. My first attempt on day two, I reopened the scabs on my knee and added two more. I was pissed at this time because I never knew riding a skim board could be so frekken hard. I finally gave up and never tried again. I have scars on my knee today to prove the pain I went through to skim board. Most people would not consider this an adventure because it’s not zip lining or cave diving or sky diving. It’s simply riding a board on the shore of the ocean. I believe it is an adventure because it was me trying something new and taking the risk of hurting myself severely, which I did. I also experienced what it was like to have a mouthful of sand, which is not fun either.
Even though my friend’s little brother was making me look bad when there were good looking girls everywhere, I still had my dignity. People who might find this adventurous are those who enjoy doing activities on the water and experiencing something new. People who would not find this adventurous are those who do this for a living, or people who think only activities that could cause death are adventurous. The purpose of me writing about this is to make people aware of what an adventure is. Skim boarding fits my definition of adventure perfectly. It is challenging, risk-taking, and something you would only do when you’re at the beach, which is only once or twice a year.
