I hurt myself on a canoe/kayak trip recently. I didn’t even know it until I woke up a few days later with intense muscle pain in my shoulder. It’s healing but still a little tender, and once again it has forced me to take it a little easier in my daily activities. I can’t help but be a little annoyed that aging certainly has its downfalls, particularly that injuries seem to come on the scene a little more frequently. Why can’t our bodies stay 20 years old forever?

It’s interesting that age comes with so much wisdom that isn’t always simple to implement. Think about it – the older we get, the more we recognize the importance of living each day to the fullest, and yet our bodies don’t always want to cooperate with that knowledge. We know our time is limited and we want to seize the opportunities that come our way, and yet our physical capabilities continue to decline. If only we truly understood how fleeting our lives are when we are young.

Still, I don’t usually regret a decision to go on a spur-of-the-moment adventure. We hadn’t made plans to go canoeing – we just woke up on that Saturday morning, and I packed a lunch and told everyone ‘let’s do it’. We drove to a marina at a nearby lake and rented the boats and had a blast all afternoon on the water. We got fresh air and exercise and made lasting memories. It was worth the temporary pain I had to deal with afterwards.

That is part of the wisdom that I have gained – the easy thing is not always the best thing. Sometimes there’s a safer option, one that doesn’t come with risks, but is that the option that breathes life into your soul? I remember earlier in my life I was often hesitant to step outside of my comfort zone, but I’ve found that the joy and growth comes from not holding ourselves back. There is nothing more limiting and suffocating than getting stuck in a rut, and nothing more liberating than doing the hard work of climbing out of it.

It’s perfectly acceptable to play it safe at times, but sometimes when we say ‘yes’ to something, even when we don’t feel like it, we find the thing we didn’t know we were lacking. Life can be drudgery – we can get bogged down in the mundane, struggling to see meaning and purpose. When we choose adventure, no matter how small, we’re saying ‘yes’ to making the most of the moments we have left.

I’m going to keep getting older. There’s no stopping the passage of time. However, I don’t ever want to limit myself just because the ‘what ifs’ are always present. I realize that the older I get, the more careful I will have to be, but I also realize that the end isn’t here yet, and the only way to truly live a life is to explore it as wholly and completely as I possibly can.

The adventures don’t have to be big. They can be as simple as not staying home on a Saturday or exploring your backyard with your toddler. We’re not always in a season of life where we can drop everything and go canoeing, and we may never be able to fly across the world on a whim. But whatever experiences we choose, and no matter the limitations we have, let’s never forget to truly live.