Recently, while trolling through Apple Podcasts desperately searching for my next listen (because heaven forbid I would have to endure a long drive in the company only of my own thoughts), I happened upon an episode of an adventure-related podcast (whose name I’ve sadly now forgotten) with a guest attendee named Alistair Humphreys, who was purportedly a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.
With a name like Alistair Humphreys and a title like “National Geographic Adventurer of the Year,” I assumed this would involve a story about some kind of exceptionally well-funded and highly inaccessible scientific venture to Antarctica or Everest. And at an earlier point in my life, I would have consumed this kind of vicarious adventure story with great enthusiasm. Indeed, I’ve still got a shelf full of adventure books, obtained mostly during my college and graduate school years. But these days, reading such stories often feels sort of sad.
I used to hear and read all kinds of travel and adventure writing and imagine myself taking off on just such an adventure someday. But now, living a busy suburban life with a demanding job, middle-school-aged children, and a mortgage, the idea that I might ever have the time or money to go on any adventure beyond a reasonable family vacation or a Scout camp-out with my children seems remote at best. This saddens me deeply.
Don’t get me wrong – I am extraordinarily grateful for all that I have (three beautiful children, a loving husband, a safe home, adequate food, a family that cares about me, good friends, and so on and so forth). Still, I often feel like crying almost every time I think of my old adventurous dreams. This feeling worsens every time I walk by my old shelf of travel and adventure books, so I tend to avoid doing so. In recent years the books have been gathering dust, and my podcast and audiobook consumption habits have shifted to guided meditation for stress relief and practical advice on managing schedules and maintaining sanity as a working mother.
But back to the day of the podcast. I rather wanted to avoid yet another vicarious adventure story, so the episode title did not particularly appeal to me. But, I had to start driving (lest I be late) and couldn’t keep scrolling, so I clicked on the episode and listened for the thirty-minute drive to my doctor’s appointment in Annapolis. Thus I “met” Alistair Humphreys who, while undoubtedly a pioneering adventurer, turned out to have a far more inspiring and accessible voice than I had imagined.
It turns out that Mr. Humphreys, whose endeavors rank include such truly grand adventures as rowing across the Atlantic and cycling across India, is also a pretty regular guy. Indeed, he addressed head-on my initial impression (apparently shared by many of his other readers and listeners) that there was some distinction between adventurers like himself, and “normal” everyday people like me. He lives in a suburb of a big city too, and has real obligations (family, mortgage, etc.) just like us normal people. He often feels boxed in by the population, the crowded spaces, and the seeming challenge of escaping routine in the midst of our actual real lives. Nonetheless, he is heavily invested in appreciating every detail of his immediate surroundings and of finding adventure in real life, in the everyday, right where he is. To this end, he has written extensively of the concept of “microadventures.”
I was so intrigued by Mr. Humphreys’s podcast discussion that I decided to check out his website, and later his books (many of which are serialized as podcasts with his own fabulous narration and can be listened to for free). I also found several of his books through local libraries right here in Maryland and ebook versions on Hoopla. I began rapidly consuming Mr. Humphreys’s publications, and discovered quickly that he had managed to articulate a very similar set of thoughts to those I had in 2021 when hatching the idea for Epic Marylanding. Specifically, there are adventures all around us! And there is a great deal to live and love and see right here in our home state, if we will only pause and look up from our routines and obligations long enough to get out and see it. Mr. Humphreys has a great deal of confidence that somehow even those of us who have never mustered the courage to leave behind our burdensome and time-consuming practical concerns and daily routines can still find adventure in our day-to-day lives. Adventure, Mr. Humphreys says, is really a state of mind. As he says on his website,
https://alastairhumphreys.com/nature-adventure/
For folks like Humphreys (and, I’m beginning to see now, for me), adventure is a highly beneficial mental state. Indeed, perhaps doses of it could even be considered a mental or emotional need, of which the lengthy absence (much like the absence of attachment, acceptance, awe, and adequate mental rest) could be severely harmful to our well-being. Suddenly the deep sadness I had felt over the last few years, as my old adventurous spirit had been sucked into oppressive work and school schedules, commutes, sports and dance practices, chores, housework, errands, home repairs, and financial pressures, made a great deal more sense. Just as suddenly, the actual realistic possibility of a microadventure (right here! in the midst of this real life!) became a hopeful and exciting possibility.
While I had never heard of the term “microadventure” when I started Epic Marylanding, this blog was originally born in the spirit of Mr. Humphreys’s philosophy of everyday adventure and of noticing and loving what is right around us. So, henceforth, in honor of this approach, Epic Marylanding will endeavor to encourage and provide ideas and options right here in this great state for microadventures of all shapes and sizes. And how perfect to do this right here, in the seventh state, the one they call America in Miniature! Even those of us who are trapped in suburbia can be in the mountains or the salt (or at least brackish!) water in under two hours. Maryland is prime land for microadventuring.
If you, like me before I lucked into that podcast episode, are an adventurer at heart but have never heard of Alistair Humphreys, check out his books, podcasts, and website! Luckily he has written a whole lot of stuff, so there is plenty to choose from. So far I have listened to the free podcasts of Microadventures, Local, and the Doorstep Mile (all of which I have loved!), and I am currently reading and enjoying the beautiful photographs in Great Adventures. This is not affiliate marketing, and I won’t get any kind of payment or kickback. I do not know Alistair Humphreys (though I’d love to meet him someday!). But I think he would love the idea of a Maryland Microadventure. His books brought back a piece of me that had been missing for far too long, and maybe they can do so for you too. Check it out! And stay tuned for lots of ideas for your very own Maryland Microadventure.
-Chelsy
Epic Marylanding 