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

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

• 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.

direction I want my life to go. So heed some encouragement and caveats from your 80-year-old self. Write a letter from ‘future you’ to ‘current you’. What will they tell you to do with your life? What will they think about where you are right now? What would they plead with you to change?

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

Mark up this table with how you use the 168 hours in a typical week. Each square represents one hour. Things to add might include work, sleep, travel, exercise, learning, chores, childcare, hobbies, social life/hanging out with friends and family, and weekend loafing.

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

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

are thinking. In fact, I can already hear you shouting loudly and angrily at me right now. ‘It’s all very well for you to say! It is easy for you. But my life is different because…’ • I don’t have enough time! (54% of people said this