Whether you’re an adventure sports enthusiast or whether you know someone who’s an enthusiast, you’ve most definitely crossed paths with one question; why adventure? why do people do it? What’s the appeal? What’s the fun? Why would you risk your life to do that? Are you out of your mind? What’s the fun in skydiving, that’s so lame?! And the list goes on.
Now being the adventure aficionados ourselves, we decided to go behind the psyche and unearth the answer to the big ‘WHY’.
The generic answer is “for the thrill”. However in all likeliness, anyone who gives you that answer is as much an adventure enthusiast as a chicken is a reptile. Someone with real affection for adventure sports has more ingrained roots and a deeper desire to pursue the activity so diligently. After a lot of research and in-depth analysis, we’ve come to a better understanding behind the reason some people crave adventure as much as others crave cheesecake.
Emotions & Adventure Sports
The primary reason is, for lack of a better phrase, ‘to break the rut of routine life’. Most enthusiasts are those who have just transitioned from boring collegiate education to even more boring mainstream jobs. Sure, typical vacations have a lot of appeal, the candid-casual trips to Goa and weekend getaways to Matheran’s and Lonavala’s are great, but how long is it before these too become as monotonous as their daily routine? Everyone needs change, change is inevitable. Here, adventure sports offers a great outlet, something that breaks the routine of the generic vacation routine! Those fortunate enough to share likeminded travel and adventure interests derive great pleasure going on the occasional adventure, simply because it’s different from conventional vacation options. Five minutes of zip-lining or sky-diving generates greater appeal than fifty minutes of sunbathing followed by a five course meal in some beach shack they’re not even sure they’ll visit again. Considering the skewed make-up of the populace in the country, most of the youth craves the ideal work-life balance and when the vacation life just doesn’t cut it, adventure comes to the rescue.
Some simply prefer ‘sweating it out’. Hitting the gym isn’t a glamorous option to keep fit. It’ll definitely do the job but it doesn’t have the ‘awesome’ appeal of an adventure sport. Now you may say, ‘hey I don’t exactly have a cliff in my backyard to hike every morning you know’! You’re right, you can’t go canyoning every day to keep fit, but more than the physical aspect, the emphasis is on the psychological aspect. How often have frequent gym-goers quit after finding the routine a drag? Just like most people seek out a vacation after dedicated months of hard work at the office, an adventure sport routine is perfect to break the lethargic gym routine most people follow. To put it simply, an outing every two to three months to top off dedication put into hours hitting the gym is the ideal mix. Most people see it as a reward for sticking to the gym! Those who venture out frequently can definitely vouch for the fact that adventure sports is a rewarding experience.
Adventure sports, in its essence, is simply the next and most obvious phase to travel. People find solace in travel and a lot of these people find even more happiness in combining the peacefulness of travelling across long distances with the thrill of adventure. A peaceful hike across a hilly forest culminating in a ziplining move across your favourite valley. A long walk on the beach paired with scuba diving. Scaling the heights of a local peak to go skiing down the other side. The list is endless. With 90% pleasure comes 10% pain and we all know the old adage “no pain no gain”. Travelling is viewed as a challenge, especially solo. What happens when you become an expert traveler? Adventure is what should ideally happen then, because it adds just the right amount of spice to an extraordinary escapade to make it the trip of your dreams.
Finally and arguably the most rational appeal to it is to bond (not of the James variety). Exploring companionship, camaraderie, friendship and emotional attachment is no easy feat. We’re social animals and no one can survive without contact with other beings. Adventure sports is viewed as a great option to create emotional bonds with people you care about and vice-versa. It presents an opportunity to foster relationships built on trust, deeper understanding of each others’ traits and behaviours and of course the ability and scope of enjoying each others’ company. Technology has threatened to take relations away from talking to texting and it’s highly essential to build relationships that work without a screen separating two people. Few can argue that a few days in the wilderness where we’re in our most natural habitat won’t do us any good in the way of connecting with people. We can put money on this one as an appeal for adventure, for sure!
‘WHY’ have we bothered to pen down our thoughts on the subject? Most take the emotion and rational appeal behind adventure sports for granted. Sometimes, it’s good to let it sink in all over again and rediscover why we do what we do. Who knows, tomorrow it might just change the way you look at adventure and you find your next outing more thrilling than ever! Tomorrow, this may just convince someone who doesn’t venture out that often to give it a shot. Either ways, we’re sure there’s something that attracts each one of us to adventure at some point of time in our lives and its very likely one of the topics we’ve probed above is definitely one of them.
He dons many hats. Professionally committing towards marketing, operations, product management, and business strategy skills while also being a hands-on scuba diving instructor. He approaches each problem with a leveled mind of an optimist. His taste in music and food is very specific and he enjoys a healthy work-life balance.
