Compound adventures: why breaking long endeavours down into bite-size pieces is good for us millennials
I first tried bikepacking in 2022 and immediately fell in love with the freedom it offers, but also how quickly it can be started. Image credit: Haus of Hiatus
After the last 2 years of pandemic life, I’m very much in need of travel, new goals and fresh learning.
As a millennial, we find ourselves caught between life chapters also: buying a property; starting a family; launching a business / concentrating on a career or just jack them all in to go and climb mountains (maybe by living in a van, or sailing around the world).
Many years ago, Al Humphreys documented the idea of ‘micro-adventures’. A concept that detailed small, definable endeavours spent pursuing enjoyment through a physical challenge.
The idea of big, wieldy goals seems great when you’re in your twenties but not hugely achievable as your responsibilities mount up in your thirties and forties.
So I’d like to put forward a concept to the my generation that I’m calling ‘compound adventures’, an idea that means you can start something at any point, pause it to refocus on your life at that particular moment - but then come back to it whenever you’re ready to resume. These separate challenges could then be grouped together to become a bigger achievement (I.e., cycling across a continent, done in short stages, over a number of years, or starting a side hustle with a view to growing it into a legitimate business later).
Having a broader yet defined digestible challenges in life certainly gives me meaning - and something to focus on when life seems to take unplanned deviations (like you fall off a mountain, or a global pandemic takes hold). One of mine is quickly becoming ‘to cycle the length of Europe (north to south)’ over a number of years, whilst I pursue other personal goals at the same time.
#compoundadventure
