3. Reading. Task 2.2. The Spirit of Microadventures

Who wants to cycle around the world? According to a British adventurer Alastair Humphreys, when he asks a room full of children, they all put up their hands and shout, “Me!”. However, what happens when that same question is posed to adults? “They become much more negative. They start doubting themselves and worry about the details,” says Humphreys, former National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and the pioneer of the microadventure movement. His solution to the problem is the microadventure, which he defines as “a shorter, simpler, cheaper, more local, and more accessible version of what you deem to be an adventure. It is something that you can squeeze in around the margins of real life.”

Before coming up with the term and starting the tiny adventure movement in 2011, Humphreys accomplished many out-of-this-world physical achievements. He was first noticed in the adventure community in 2005 when he completed a four-year, 46,000-mile bike ride around the world. He also rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, walked across India, ran 150 miles in the heat of the Sahara Desert, and rafted in Iceland. Each time Humpreys returned home to Britain from one of his super-sized adventures, he would do what nearly all professional adventurers do: write articles about the trip, then a book, and then go on a speaking tour. In his estimation, he was paid to push himself to the limit, have fun, and chat about it. And he loved it.
However, as he repeated this formula over a decade, Humphreys noticed an alarming pattern during his lectures. “What struck me was that I was regularly talking to audiences of hundreds of people who really liked hearing about stories of adventure,” Humphreys recalls. “But those hundreds of people were not going off and having adventures themselves.” Humphreys figured there was one main reason people stopped before they had even started: the unofficial but not-unspoken grading system of the outdoors in which we divide adventures into those which are worthy because of their epicness and those which are not. To destroy that barrier and help make adventure more appealing, Humphreys started his microadventure movement.

Over the last 12 years, he has been advocating for the value of small outings: a jump in a river,
a run around the neighborhood, camping in your backyard. He accepts that he is an exception as a full-time adventurer, and to inspire those who aren’t means showing what’s possible a little closer to home. “What I am trying to do with microadventures is to say, ‘Look, the wilderness is closer than you think.’ Location does not matter”, Humphreys insists. At its core, microadventures are about trying something new, experimenting, getting fit and adding more adventure to your busy lives, even if it does not involve leaving your town. “The idea of microadventures grew in popularity the more inclusive I made them. As I made them shorter, simpler and more open to interpretation, there was no excuse not to do them.”

It is more than just a theory. “I have been lucky to go out with people trying their first microadventure and experimenting with something they have never done before. Such adventures result in people exclaiming in delight as the sun sets, ‘It’s the best thing I have ever done!’”. However, best does not necessarily mean biggest or most ambitious.

Naturally, at the heart of the microadventure concept is a simple, small suggestion: being open to exploration and experimentation can bring rich rewards wherever you are. “When I am driving and I go over a bridge, I always look around and see if the river looks good for swimming or canoeing or camping. Once you get this mindset that there are wild, beautiful places everywhere, adventure seems far more accessible.”

1. How does Humphreys believe people's perceptions of adventure have been shaped?