Do you remember what it was like to be five years old in your own backyard?
That small patch of grass wasn’t just a lawn; it was an uncharted jungle. Every anthill was a bustling metropolis, every strange weed was a new alien species, and every minute was a grand expedition.
As children, we are all master explorers.
We possess an innate, unquenchable curiosity. The world is a vast, sparkling map, and our only job is to discover it.
But then, life slowly begins to fold that map up.
Exploration in a Life
Childhood is the only time for which we typically assume that it’s a time of exploration.
It may be just play, but in play, we discover the world around us and our place in it – and we even imagine, if not inhabit, worlds of our imagination.
Small things can hold great fascination during that time.
Adolescence
School times are obvious times of learning, but exploration already becomes less. We may explore our sexuality, our interests and talents, as we go through puberty and move towards work life, but there is a lot of pressure to leave aside childhood things.
The jungle of the backyard is replaced by the curated hallways of school. Our curiosity is graded, our passions are judged by peers, and the pressure mounts to trade our compass for a report card.
Teenagers may still try to push some limits, but there are often fewer interests – and what there are do not feel like any great exploration. Social comparison sets in, all the more so with the constant stream of what others are doing we’re fed by social media, and everything pales.
Adulthood
By the time we reach adulthood, for many of us, the map is tucked away in a dusty drawer. Life becomes a commute, a to-do list, a series of routines.
We become tourists in our own lives, following a well-worn path, so busy looking at our feet that we forget to look at the sky.
But what if I told you that map is still there, waiting for you? And as an adult, you now have the resources, wisdom, and freedom to be a better explorer than you ever were as a child.
Unfolding the Map, One Day at a Time
You can stop being a tourist in your own life, an NPC, and start being the hero of your life story, the explorer of your life.
You just have to see the potential for discovery in the landscape of your daily life.
- Your Job: Don’t just do your work; become an anthropologist of your workplace. Map the social dynamics, explore more efficient workflows, discover the hidden talents of your colleagues. It’s a complex ecosystem ripe for discovery.
- Your Home: Your house isn’t just a place to sleep; it’s your personal laboratory. Can you explore a new recipe that changes your entire week? Can you discover a new organization system in your closet that radically simplifies your morning?
- Your Routines: What are the automatic scripts you run every day? Explore them. Track your energy after you drink your morning coffee. Discover the effect of a ten-minute walk at lunch. You are the chief scientist in the experiment of you.
- Your Choices: Every major life decision—to have children or not, to change careers, to move to a new city—is a massive territory for exploration. It demands that you map your own values, desires, and fears.
Your Niches of Exploration
Wide-ranging as this is, everything can be seen as a chance for exploration, but you cannot and don’t have to explore everything at once.
An explorer knows the value of focusing on one region at a time.
The simple act of choosing what to be curious about is how you take the rudder and steer away from the sleepwalking drift of routine.
Also, an explorer doesn’t just aim for a destination; they cherish the unexpected detours and what they might find along the way.
The Explorer’s Mindset
Why does this shift in perspective matter so much? Because when you see life as a journey of discovery, everything changes.
Same as you can get nervous about a presentation, take your nervousness as a sign that you are too badly prepared and then get into a vicious cycle, you can see life as bland, as offering nothing to see – and fail to see things.
Or, same as you can tell yourself that it’s not fear you are feeling, it is excitement that drives you forward, you can approach life as a worthwhile challenge.
Thus, you as an explorer don’t have to fear failure; you can see setbacks as valuable intel for the next leg of the journey, building resilience and adaptability.
As an explorer, you can uncover new passions, not because you are searching for a grand “purpose,” but because you are fascinated by the process itself.
You can find fascination in the small things as well as the big. Discoveries are everywhere, and they are proof that wonder is everywhere, just waiting for a curious and knowledgeable eye.
You hold the map. You hold the compass. You decide whether to use them or not.