2020–a new decade and, for many of us, symbolic of a new beginning–has made me feel disappointed and confused. I had planned to spend the entire year traveling through different countries and continents. I was excited to explore a new place and converse with new people; I was ready for an adventure.

Like most of you, I’ve been mostly at home for over three months, and there are days when I deeply miss the sense of adventure I get from traveling and exploring the world. However, I’ve been trying to remind myself that my adventure mindset is not to be discarded as soon as my plans change. What do I mean by that?

Journeys International has always designed our trips to be more than a destination–we design adventures, which we define as, “an experience that takes you someplace beyond your comfort zone — and therefore maximizes the potential for wonder, discovery, and possibly transformation.” In my travels, I have experienced many moments where I find myself outside of my comfort zone for no reason other than a language barrier or an unfamiliar setting. Navigating a conversation in a foreign tongue was enough to remind me of how much there is to learn in this world and made me feel like an explorer. Seeing architecture from past centuries and learning about the history that took place in a foreign land enables me to turn my brain on sponge mode and absorb new information from varied perspectives. Now that I’m at home, interacting with the same few faces each day, my ability to explore feels limited, and sometimes even stifled.

What helps me most in these confusing times has been to maintain my adventure mindset at home. I have been working to turn mundane, day-to-day tasks into an adventure. From finding “treasures” in the dishwasher and carefully putting each piece in its place to keep it safe to reading new books that introduce me to new perspectives, I am adventuring from home. On my morning walks, I try to find plants, animals, or objects that I haven’t seen before and imagine a story of why they’re there. Sometimes, I’ll cook a new recipe from a country I’ve visited and let myself get excited about future travel ideas.

There is no one “right” way to practice using your adventure mindset because every person and every adventure is different. What I find most important and most helpful, however, is reminding myself to explore, learn, and go beyond the familiar in the places I feel most comfortable… like in my home.

I want to encourage you all to adventure with me, from afar. Find something new to investigate and explore, turn your daily tasks and responsibilities into challenges and escapades, and push the boundaries of your comfort zone in a safe way. We will return to travel one day, and in order to be ready for those future adventures, we must practice adventuring until then.