The Experience Junkie Philosophy

Being an Experience Junkie is to engage with a philosophy — not for travel, but for living.

Experiences. We have any number of experiences a day. Most of them casually overlooked and taken for granted. Why? Because they’re familiar; because they’re habit; because they’re not deemed special enough to recognise. More often than not our attention and focus is placed on tangibles – things we already own and those that we want to acquire. And yet, while there is nothing tangible about an experience, when emotionally invested in, when savoured, when enthusiastically anticipated they form the lasting framework to our transient lives; bookmarks to look back upon and say “Remember when … ?”. Experiences may be fleeting but the opportunity they offer to learn and grow and the memories they create are not. Something material fortunes cannot manufacture nor erase.

But to be an experience junkie is so much more! It’s about taking familiar and existing experiences and forcing yourself to try them in a different manner. To avoid whenever possible being the bystander and to push to become more immersed in the experience. Ultimately challenge your habits, your expectations, and your fears by trying something new and stepping out of your groove. (Don’t worry, it’ll still be there if you choose to go back – but it’s unlikely you’ll want to.)

To be an experience junkie is to want to embrace new things. Why? Because they’re there! And to acknowledge that today is January 1^st, even if it’s August 17^th, and that today, this afternoon, right now (!) is as good a time as any to chart a new course and try something new. To embrace the world around you and to sample it’s limitless potential of experiences. There are a myriad and a multitude of experiences out there from the spiritual to the sporting, from the familiar to the foreign, from the conservatively-sane to the consciously-crazy. And as an experience junkie, you want to experience them all.

Consider for a moment: Why is it that when we’re on holiday we’re most open to trying new things? Is it that foreign lands limit our choice of the familiar and force us to try the local alternative? Or is it that free from the constraints of habit we’ve a willingness to engage, investigate and experience? After all, opposed to staying home, isn’t that the reason why we’ve travelled abroad in the first place?

To be an experience junkie is to engage with a philosophy – not just for travel, but for living.

To take that same openness of mind that magically appears when on holiday and apply it to all aspects of your life – whether home or abroad – and then, just so you don’t get too comfortable, push the envelope just that little bit more. You’ll be surprised at your potential. You’ll be rewarded by the minimal effort it takes to delve in deeper, to take the extra risk. Your life will be richer with a wealth of incredible memories. (I promise.)  Now go out there today, this afternoon, and try something new, take the alternative road, make the least conservative choice and challenge yourself. Just be careful you don’t get addicted. 😉