Let your curiosity run wild - go explore

Working as a freelancer, it's easy to fall into the trap of sitting at the computer all day with a head full of writing, marketing and business planning. I've been known to get so engrossed in my work that come the end of the day, I've not been out of the front door or spoken face to face with another person.

The flip side to this is when outdoor contracts come in.

I was lucky to spend much of this year's glorious summer working outside on the moors, updating a walking guidebook for a well known publisher. Those days are awesome!

This week, realising that I'd been less active since the onset of colder darker days, I decided to head out for a short walk before settling into work. It was a great idea in theory, but in practice I found that I was feeling a bit 'meh' about yet another walk from the front door.

Don't get me wrong, walking from our front door takes me into some fantastic woodland and fields and usually I love wandering through them watching how different they look as the seasons come and go.

But, walking the same route every week can become a little repetitive. To mix things up a bit, I decided on a longer walk and whilst I was enjoying being out in the fresh air, it was still on paths which I knew well. I was missing....something.

Then I came across a path I'd never walked. I had a vague idea how it linked with others in the area, but wasn't 100% sure. With my curiosity roused, I decided to explore.

It changed everything!

Suddenly I was intrigued and excited to see what I found. I also began connecting with the landscape around me because I was looking on the same places with a slightly different perspective.

That whole switch in my thinking led me to realise that I'd been feeling hemmed in and craving adventure. When life happens, big adventures go on the back burner.

So it was good to remember that a sense of adventure can still be found in the places I know well. All it takes is a little curiosity and exploration.