November Bucket List Life Dare: The 31 Days of Everyday Adventure Challenge

This month I’m honored to team up with Shelly of The Goal List in her month-long challenge: 31 Days of Everyday Adventure. Shelly and I share a very similar outlook on bucket lists – that not every bucket list experience has to be over-the-top expensive or in some way monumental. Adventure comes in all shapes and sizes. To illustrate this and help others learn how to embrace adventure in multiple forms, Shelly’s challenge contains “31 Small Ways to Bring Adventure Into Every Day.” From complimenting a stranger, to learning a new dance move, to being a tourist in your home town, the options are all doable. For many of them you may find yourself nodding along and saying, “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now.” Let this challenge be the kick in the pants you’ve been needing.

Each week I’m going to share one thing I’ve done in response to the challenge. This week? “Write a gratitude list. Start dreaming by being thankful for what you already have.” It’s an appropriate start to the month during which we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Here’s my list.

I’m grateful for:

• the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series (how could I not be, as a lifelong Cubs fan??).
• my husband who has put up with me for over twenty years now.
• my parents, who I’m lucky to get to visit with every week.
• my three girls, who are all fun and interesting in their own ways.
• a job I look forward to going to every week, with great co-workers.
• the community I live in, that often does live up to the name a customer service rep once mistook it for, “Neighborville.”
• my writing coach and fellow parenting journalists, who all push me to take my writing to the next level.
• the women of the Redbud Writers Guild, who help keep me keeping on in my writing journey while not forgetting the God who enables me to write.
• Alex, the white schnozzle rescue dog who keeps me company when I’m home writing and makes us all laugh at least once a day.
• the ability to pursue my bucket list dreams and help my family find adventures that fit them and their personalities.
• the options and opportunities available to my kids in their education and extracurricular activities.
• the small group Bible study that meets in our home and the couples we’re getting to know through that.

I could continue on for a while. I have so much to be thankful for. How about you? Have you ever written a list of what you’re grateful for? If you haven’t, give it a try – you might be blown away. Or if that’s not your thing, sign up for the 31 Days of Everyday Adventure challenge for daily prompts throughout November. You don’t have to do them all (although imagine how adventurous your life could be if you did!), but I’m sure you’ll find at least one way each week to step into adventure.