Adventure and treasure hunting
October 6, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Pursuit of Happiness
I was more into dinosaurs than pirates as a kid, but I’ve always loved a good treasure hunt (although not the kind where some adult already knows what and where…) So ever since I saw the Cash & Treasure episode about Spanish Armada gold on the Florida coast, I’ve been dying to go try my luck and that day has finally arrived, or will next week. I know that the odds are that my sister and I will come back empty handed, but the possibility exists for anything and everything to the right of that and it’s got me thinking about why adventure is so much fun.
A big part of it is that it’s not quantifiable. It would be virtually impossible to write a risk analysis or a business plan around treasure hunting. What would you say? Projected earnings are between $0 and $5,000,000? I think there’s a big relief for most people to get away from a plan for a bit, whether that’s with a metal detector or on a hike to a new spot looking for wildflowers. When you don’t know what could happen or what you’ll find, the entire journey is exciting.
By it’s very nature, adventure has a goal (gold and spices in the Far East) and a very hazy road map that quickly gets tossed away for inaccuracy. So how come when that happens in the other parts of our lives, we get resentful and start turning over rocks looking for that itemized list that will tell us how to get on? Most of us seem to want to be safe and adventurous all at the same time. However, outside of some theme parks I’ve never heard of that happening. That doesn’t mean I’m taking off for the beach forever, just that I know that the sense of possibility and excitement that comes with the thought of treasure is one that can come with any risk/goal combination we want to achieve. If you start with “I won’t find anything” and “it’s not worth trying” then it’s unlikely to fall out of the sky and hit you on the head.
