The term adventurize was coined, as far as I know, by the controversial YouTuber Bald and Bankrupt (aka Mr. Bald). In his series of videos, Mr. Bald travels the world with purpose. Exploring Soviet mosaics across the former USSR. Traversing the Darian Gap to experience what migrants around the world go through to reach the US border.
I latched on to this term mostly because of its whimsy. Saying you’re an adventurizer is much more fun than just an adventurer. It wasn’t until recently that I really began to understand what adventurizing truly is. As the inaugral post on a website called Adventurizer, it’s only fitting to talk about the term and the soul of adventurizing, at least at a high level.
What is adventurizing?
The term adventurize is just the combination of adventure + -ize. We see the suffix –ize everywhere. Finalize; industrialize, etc. Merriam-Webster defines –ize as “cause to be”. So adventurize is basically making something into an adventure. But what is an adventure? I think we all have a gut feeling of what an adventure is. Merriam-Webster defines adventure as “an undertaking usually involving danger or risk”.
So with adventurizing, we describe the notion of making or turning something into a risky endeavor. We are purposefully inviting and creating risks in what we do. However, we are definitely not seeking risk for the sake of seeking risk. We set a goal and risk failing in that goal.
Think of a trip to Mexico. Many of us would be happy sitting on the beach with a margarita soaking up the Sun. To adventurize this trip would be to add a goal or challenge, e.g. I want to learn to stand up on a surfboard or I want to try a margarita at each beach-side bar. We’re inviting the risk of failing these goals.
Why adventurize?
By taking risks, we afford ourselves the opportunity grow and learn. Compare this to stepping outside of our comfort zone. Once we leave our comfort zone, we learn about what we are capable of, how we want to live our lives, our relationships with other people and our environment.
To adventurize is to create opportunities to leave our comfort zone and ultimately to seek growth. We take an undertaking, transform it to include the opportunity for growth, and come out the other side a slightly different person than we were when we went in.
I went to Scandinavia in early Fall 2023 for two weeks ending with the Atjan Wild Islands running festival in the Faroe Islands. I signed up for their 10km race that basically went up and over a small mountain. I had never run in a race of any kind before. My goal: finish before the 4 hour cut-off time. I was risking the hurt personal pride of not being able to finish. Luckily, I finished with plenty of time before the cut-off and discovered in myself this ability to finish a challenging trail race. I’ve gone on to compete in many other races since. I became a changed person; adventurizing did this for me.
What now?
In this blog, we will explore all facets of how to adventurize using various tools at our disposal. Decision theory can teach us how to think about defining our goals and assessing risks. Data science can give us information to make setting goals and making the costs to reach those goals more affordable. Psychology can teach us how to frame our goals and approach our adventurizing process in the happiest way.
Stay tuned.
