The Doorstep Mile: Live More Adventurously Every Day

• I’m always torn between what society says someone my age should be doing, the fear of not knowing what my future self might need and living in the present.

Sonder is ‘the realisation that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness.’

Back in college my best friend asked, ‘Do you want to go on a trip? We are renting a camper and leaving for the trip of a lifetime to see the Balkans.’ I had no money, I was scared and full of scenarios of death and destruction. I was pretty sure my parents would say NO, even though I was a grown-up. I remember telling my grandma about it. She hand

For the first few days, the experience was hideous. I was, in so many ways, out of my depth. Between the hours at the oars, the snatched scraps of sleep, the damp loneliness and the endless puking, something monumental began to sink into my thoughts. No matter how much I willed it, there was no way off this boat. A bag stuffed with a million dollar

Am I a runner? But do I actually run? Often and far and fast? Or do I just trot around the park a couple of times a week at the same pace as last year? • Am I a cyclist? But do I actually put in the miles? Or do I just own a nice bike or three? When did I last go for a long bike ride that made me proud? • Am I a photographer? When was the last time

OVER TO YOU • What should you work on more slowly than your impatient side wants you to?

OVER TO YOU • What practical barriers stand in your way? • What mental barriers have you built up? • Which concerns can be shunted further down the line? Think of the most significant thing blocking you from living adventurously. • Now ask these questions, known as the Dickens Process: • What has that barrier cost you in your life so far? • What is

Am I too busy to move to Africa for a year? • Am I too busy to cross Iceland for a month? • Am I too busy to go biking in Scotland for a week? • Am I too busy to camp out this weekend? • Am I too busy to climb a small hill and watch the sunset? • Am I too busy to go for a run at lunchtime? • Am I too busy to swim in a river before breakfast? • Am I

the newsletter at www.alastairhumphreys.com/living-adventurously) • I feel guilty/selfish/it’s not fair on my family! (49%) • I don’t have enough money! (38%) • I’ve got nobody to do adventurous stuff with! (37%) • I worry about making the wrong choice! (29%) • I don’t know how to begin! (24%) • I feel like an imposter! I’ll fail! (23%) • I’m scare