Adventure and Friendship

370 words, < 3 minutes

How much time do we spend with our friends? It’s less than we think.

When was the last time you had a sleepover? Adventures are like sleepovers for adults. We probably need more sleepovers and adventures in our lives.

On adventures, our time together is supercharged by constant connection. Being near each other opens up communication channels, even when we don’t say anything. Distraction-free time is rare in modern ages, but in nature, with fewer distractions, boundaries and personal space merge.

We experience everything together. Everything. There are no filters or walls to hide behind. And it turns out that sharing time and a lack of space on an adventure are pretty good ways to build understanding and appreciation, align interests, and create a shared history (a.k.a friendship).

When we were younger, class schedules and communal living created a structure for spending the hundreds of hours together that are necessary to build and maintain friendships. Connection happened with less thinking or planning. It was almost automatic. Those moments add up. We tend to have positive feelings for the things that are familiar, the things we spend time with.

When lives and locations diverge, we have less shared experiences, and finding time together requires… ugh, logistics. But, adventures change the connection calculation. We get to escape the tyranny of limited time by trading personal space for togetherness.

Have you ever thought about how much our personal space shrinks when we camp? We are surrounded by the nearly endless expanse of nature, yet we huddle next to each other around campfires and pile into tents, shelters, and vehicles with our fates and feet intertwined.

All of our senses are engaged in near-constant communication with one another.

We are physically closer. Much closer.

We share more.

We experience the same things.

In the empty space, our thoughts transform instantly into words that float into space and into open ears.

OK, maybe I’m not selling it, but it’s a good thing for our friendships.

An overnight adventure can accumulate more time connecting than a full year of virtual communication. So, let’s make it a goal to delete some of our inside time, remove distractions, and spend more nights outside with friends.