The Kat Files

The rule focused on for Week 6 of the Tranquility by Tuesday challenge was one big adventure, one little adventure. The purpose of this rule is to plan to have one big adventure and one little adventure in your week. According to Laura, “Big adventures require a few hours-something that might fit on a weekend day. A little adventure could take just an hour or so, as long as it’s something out of the ordinary.” The beauty of adding adventures to a weekly schedule provides some excitement to a normally routine-oriented week.

Before the week started, I pondered the planning questions for Rule #6 that Laura sent us on Friday, 24 February and made a plan for the week.

• What “big adventures” (taking a few hours) would you like to try in the next month? List at least three. Attend my niece’s wedding; attend Romeo and Juliet at the Columbia and dinner afterwards; attend International Honor Society Event with Andrew; go see my friend Shanna perform in her first play; go book shopping at Friends of the Library store

• What “little adventures” (taking about an hour) would you like to try in the next month? List at least three. Get a pedicure; take a walk around Southeastern campus; have lunch with my friend Sue; have coffee with my friend Tweety; attend an online book-related event for an hour

• Think about this past week. Did you have any adventures, big or little? What were they? Big Adventure-Apply for passport and lunch with hubby and Daddy on Friday; Little Adventure-Sushi lunch with myself on Thursday after my dentist appointment

• Now look ahead to next week. What big adventure would you like to have next week? When could you experience this big adventure? Shopping tomorrow (Saturday) with hubby for dress and shoes for my niece’s upcoming wedding

• What little adventure would you like to have next week? When could you experience this little adventure? I’d like to meet up with my friend Jeff at the bowling alley close to my house. His son bowls for his school and has a game on Wednesday afternoon.

• What obstacles might keep you from having these adventures? I can’t foresee any obstacles that would prevent me from going shopping. If Jeff can’t make his son’s game or something comes up with my mother-in-law or my children, we won’t get to visit.

• How can you address these challenges? If I couldn’t go shopping on Saturday for some unforeseen reason, I could use a back-up slot to go during the week. Jeff and I would just have to check our calendars to see if there is another time we could connect if we can’t on Wednesday.

RESULTS

This rule was not difficult to implement because I tend to have big adventures and little adventures sprinkled throughout my schedule. I am a fan of seasonal fun lists, and I love participating in readathons/watchathons. In this particular week, I had two BIG adventures and two LITTLE adventures. Sadly, I did not do as well with a few of the other rules (mainly Rule #1) because I had an extremely busy week related to my content schedule, tech issues, and a doctor’s appointment with a wait that was WAY too long.

REFLECTION

• What big adventure(s) did you experience this week? Two big adventures this week on the same day; On Saturday around noon, I went shopping with Shelly instead of Barry, so we made it a girls’ day. First, we ate a yummy lunch at Albasha. Then, we visited four stores where I bought two dresses and two pairs of shoes, knowing I could return one dress and one pair of shoes after modeling my purchases for Barry. HA! Later, that evening, Barry and I went to Shelly’s house where we hung out with Shelly, her husband, and Helen to celebrate Helen’s new job. Saturday evening was actually a back-up slot for last week’s rule.

• What little adventure(s) did you experience this week? Two little adventures this week. I attended the FOMO Book Club Meeting online on Sunday morning to discuss Jamaica Inn (which I didn’t get to finish and still reading). I met my friend Jeff at the bowling alley for a short visit while his son was bowling. My friend Shelly came with me and Jeff’s wife came after work. It was fun visiting and catching up. I also attempted to help Jeff with setting up his blog. We were not very successful because of the technology he was using, and it was hard to concentrate in the bowling alley.

• What effects did you see in your life from doing something out of the ordinary? It definitely enriches my life to add adventures into my schedule. It breaks up the normal routine.

• What challenges, if any, did you face while implementing this week’s strategy? Did anything make it difficult for you to plan adventures into your life, or to have the adventures you planned? No challenges; I just make sure to block out the time for my adventures as if they are appointments. That mindset helps me keep those adventures since they are on my calendar.

• How did you address these challenges? n/a

• If you modified this rule, how did you do so? n/a

• How likely are you to continue planning big and little adventures into your life? Very likely, considering I have already pretty much been doing this all of my life; I try to make a point of having both weekly ever since I did this study back in the spring of 2021.

• Did you observe a bedtime this past week? Not really! It was a crazy week for me. I went to sleep three nights by 10:30 p.m. or earlier; two nights, I climbed into bed at 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m.; Unfortunately, I went to bed at 1:00 a.m. the night I hosted my wrap-up sprints for Folklore February. I had a Book Club meeting I was hosting right before the sprints, so that’s why sprints were scheduled for 8:30 that evening; On Thursday, I went to bed at 2:00 a.m. because of tech issues with my Old School April Announcement video that was due to release on Friday. I had improv class prior to the tech debacle; otherwise, I would not have been up so late. Even though, I did not observe my bedtime as great as I have been, at least I did NO scrolling before going to sleep any night during this week. I worked on book reviews (Goodreads/Instagram)/content two nights, read two nights, and hung out with friends another night (showered once home and went straight to bed). 

• Plan on Friday? YES, but this week on Saturday morning; I’m getting closer to planning on Friday.

• Move by 3 p.m.?  Yes, but only two days; Friday-Walked & talked to my hubby for 15 minutes; Tuesday-Walked 10 minutes around my backyard.

• Do your chosen activity three times per week? I read Choose Joy (3-minute devotions) 6 mornings. I got outside for at least 23 minutes only 1 time this week for the #Outside23in23 Challenge. It was Tuesday. I walked before 3 p.m. and later went out for 15 minutes to take photos of two of my books (recently completed) to post on Instagram.

• Create a back-up slot? Yes, I had two back-up slots on Monday and Wednesday afternoons which I used both afternoons for editing.

Rule #6: One Big Adventure, One Little Adventure is one of my favorite rules because I love having adventures. Honestly, life is an adventure. There is always something enjoyable to do to make your days feel adventurous. There are only three rules left to implement. Next week’s rule is all about making time (at least one night) for yourself. Happiness!

“Adventures make life memorable, and memories can make time feel more rich and full.” ~ Laura Vanderkam

Note: Photo at the top is by Kevin Malik on Pexels.com.

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