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Reclaiming Your Sense of Adventure in the Trenches of Motherhood · Far & Familiar

• Britt Fisher: I don't think you've truly lost your sense of adventure. I think it's just probably buried under a pile of laundry. Welcome to Far and Familiar, the podcast about faith, biblical hospitality, and courageous adventure for Christian moms who are ready to step outside of their comfort zones and start fully living. If you find yourself feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or uninspired in your everyday life, you found the right place. Friend, you were not made to play it safe and operate in survival mode. You were made to live with eyes up and doors thrown open, chasing the adventure and abundant life God has for you. I'm your host, Britt Fisher, Jesus follower, mama of four, and someone who believes a full dinner table and a passport full of stamps are forms of worship. I've spent years traveling the world with my family, opening our home, and navigating what it actually looks like to live a life outside of my comfort zone. And this podcast is everything I and other mamas who have gone before me have learned along the way. I am so glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hi friends, welcome back to Far and Familiar. today we are going to talk about what it looks like to reclaim your sense of adventure when you feel like you have lost it in the trenches of motherhood. And as we examine what exactly that looks like, I want to take you guys back to some examples of my own trenches of motherhood moments. if I think of the trenches of motherhood, honestly, I can think all the way back to newborn and toddler years with my oldest two, or I can think back as far as yesterday when I texted my husband in tears asking him to pray for me on a particularly hard day with my two youngest. The reality is that the trenches of motherhood can follow us through so many years Some of us with teens feel like we are in the trenches at times. But there is this true reality of feeling like you were completely exhausted and in survival mode. And all of the creativity has been sucked out of you as you are washing another pile of dishes and navigating school and co op drop offs and packing another lunch or finding yourself elbows deep in yet another mountain of laundry. And I know in those moments it can start to feel like true adventures and stepping outside of your comfort zone when you are just begging to feel comfortable at times in your own life, that adventure feels so far out of reach. The idea of being creative and actively pursuing the unfamiliar just feels like too much. And here's what I want to encourage you, and I want to name this tension directly. I don't think you've truly lost your sense of adventure. I think it's just probably buried under a pile of laundry. And that's okay. And here's the reality: adventure requires margin. Going on adventures, having this attitude and posture in life of pursuing The unfamiliar of stepping outside of your comfort zone, it requires margin, it requires capacity. And sometimes motherhood in the trenches feels like it strips that from us. And that's not a character flaw. That's not just something in your personality. If this feels hard to you, that's not a flaw. It's a season. And I want to normalize that before we move forward. Is that you may be in a season that this feels really hard and that's okay. But I also Want to speak directly to the lie that adventure has to be something big and extravagant. Yes, adventure sometimes can look like a passport full of stamps. I talk about that. I think there is so much joy in exploring the incredible world that God created. But also there is so much beauty in the adventures that God opens for us right in our own backyards, in our own cities, in our own communities. And adventures don't have to involve passports and airplanes to count. I wanna redefine adventure for you guys and I've already I said this phrase a few times already in the podcast, but I think how we should define adventure is doing something unfamiliar or a little bit outside of our comfort zone on purpose. It doesn't have to be going somewhere far away. Obviously, I talk about in the title of this podcast, far and familiar. But truly far doesn't always mean geographically far. It's just this idea of going outside of our comfort zone. With this ultimate goal and vision of if we take little baby steps outside of our comfort zone regularly, that comfort zone is going to expand and eventually we will be much further than we could have imagined. But initially, a lot of times reclaiming our sense of adventure as moms starts with tiny baby steps. And so here's where I want to get really practical with you guys. I want to. Help you guys envision some practical ways that you can start embracing adventure in your everyday life right now. And the first of these things is to embrace the beauty of microadventures. So many of these are completely free. So If some of the obstacles or the objections that you have in your own brain towards adventures might be financial, this is a great place to start. Microadventures can be as simple as going and exploring a new park in your city or maybe a nearby city, maybe going on a walk somewhere and a finding a new walking trail. I love the app All Trails for this because it will show you. All of the different trails that you have in your nearby area, and it will give you specific information about what the difficulty is, what the distance is. You can make sure you're actually staying on the trail. It has active GPS tracking. So I highly recommend that. I use the free version of it regularly. Another adventure that we do regularly at our house is to cook something that you've never made before. Maybe explore a different country's food. A favorite rhythm of ours in our homeschool life is for geography. We kind of pick a continent. Like we're picking a continent this year, the continent of Asia to study. And we have a different country or selection of countries each month that we are studying. The kids are mapping them and you know, labeling cities and notating different geographical elements and coloring them, but also we're watching YouTube videos about those countries, We're learning about the culture and what it's like to visit there. And we're learning about the language and learning little snippets ourselves and practicing, saying hello and goodbye, and thank you. And where is the bathroom? but beyond that, one of our favorite ways to explore a new country and to step outside of our comfort zone and take a little microadventure in our everyday life is to explore the food. And Sometimes this is there's this really cute YouTube channel. I think it's called Hi-Ho H I H O. I will add it in the show notes to confirm. But it shows kids trying foods from all over the world. And right now we're studying Vietnam. We're actually about to head on a trip to Vietnam. By the time this airs, we will be leaving next week. we are so excited. We're visiting some dear friends that are missionaries in Cambodia. And so we are heading overseas to. spend a few days in Vietnam as a family and then heading over to Cambodia to enjoy this precious time with our friends and serve them while they are actively living on mission. But we've intentionally been studying Vietnam and Cambodia in geography over the last couple of months of homeschool. And so We watched this cute video of these kids trying Vietnamese snacks. And some of them horrified my children and some of them intrigued them. They've already decided they want to try durian when we get to Vietnam, which I don't know how much you guys know about durian, but it's like a very stinky fruit. And I have never tried it, but I've been told it tastes like vanilla custard. So we're gonna go for it and step outside of our comfort zone in that way. But you can do this in your own home. You don't actually have to go there. You can either order, take out, We are gonna get Vietnamese takeout next week as we wrap up our Vietnam unit study. But also you can try making some of these meals. We have done Japanese dishes at home. We have done Thai dishes. We have tried making African things. our time in Kenya, I had one of the house helpers that came to our house that just kind of helped us really build community in the little village and capsule that we were in. She taught me how to make chapati and mandazi, which are like Kenyan tortillas and donuts, essentially. And we have made those at home since then. there are so many things that you can learn to make. YouTube is a powerful resource. Pinterest man, they have so many recipes. And that is such a fun way to embrace adventure and also a really great way to expand your kids' palettes. If you have really picky eater kids, I want to. encourage you. One of our family values is fishers are adventurous eaters. Even if my kids don't always act like it, because I definitely have some that are pickier than others. We lean in and we ask our kids to take polite bites and we lean in to exposing them to new foods. They don't have to eat it all. They don't have to love it, but we want them to actively be trying and stretching their comfort zone. So this is a great way to embrace a micro adventure. Another really simple microadventure that isn't completely free but is typically rather inexpensive is to go try to learn something new together in your town. or go explore a new spot. Think of something like maybe going and checking out a local climbing gym. that's something my kids and I did this summer. They had like a homeschooling hour one afternoon. So it was really inexpensive, including the shoe rentals, and we all went and tried out rock. Climbing for an afternoon and had an absolute blast. there are so many other options, like maybe it's a trampoline park, something that you don't typically do that is out of the ordinary, that can feel like a little break from daily monotony and maybe just stretch you a little bit outside of your comfort zone. We know that is a big theme of this podcast. and then beyond the micro adventures, let's talk about maybe some. small scale adventures that are just a little bit bigger than a microadventure, like a weekend trip or a day trip somewhere that's within a couple hours drive. recently my family did this is a five-hour drive, so but we are very experienced ambitious day trippers, maybe would be the way to describe it. But we had an interview to get our global entry approved in Kansas City. That was the closest place to Oklahoma City that we could go. And so we made a day of it. We woke up way too early in the morning to make it there for our nine o'clock or 9 40 interview. And then afterwards, we did an adventure. We found a really awesome children's science museum that we could take the kids to. It was something new. As usual, we scouted out a new fun coffee shop to try and went and got some really great. pizza and tried a new pizza flavor. Just some little fun thing that creates memories and is out of the ordinary of what we would normally do on a Saturday. and that was a super fun way to spend our weekend. other ideas might be something like camping in your backyard or having a yes day for your kids. That can feel really outside of your comfort zone as a parent, but it can be really fun. Or maybe planning a camping trip at a local state park. This is something we do every year with some of our dearest friends. And it's funny because I was not raised in an outdoorsy family at all. We loved to travel, but the outdoors was not something we spent a lot of time in. we had a lot of allergies, but I've embraced those things and found holistic ways to treat that so that I can enjoy the beauty of God's incredible earth they created for us to enjoy. And so There are so many fun ways that you can kind of create a small scale trip. If there is a big city near you, maybe go into the city and pretend to be like a big city dweller if that is not your norm. If you normally live in suburbia or in the country, go explore a big city. Or if you normally live in a big city, embrace that camping trip. Find something that is just a little bit outside of your comfort zone and out of the norm and just dive in for a weekend. And then obviously you can take some bigger swings at this adventure lifestyle and the idea of pursuing adventure and reclaiming your adventurous spirit. And that's planning maybe some bigger trips in advance. Bigger trips are not required, but some big grand adventures can really be something so fun to look forward to, to enhance your learning. our Vietnam and Cambodia trip has been so wonderful. We haven't even gone yet, but we've already learned so much about the culture. We've had so many conversations and just fun hours of and days of planning this trip. That honestly, that is half the fun for me of the adventure is just preparing for it. And so this is something you obviously need to plan in advance, but know that it doesn't have to be a huge ordeal. It doesn't always have to be the big international trip. I think. Those can be really fun. And you guys know that I am a huge fan of finding really good flight deals that push you out of your comfort zone. one of my most famous examples was flying my family of six to Japan for $283 cash total for all six of us. if you want to know more of that, pay attention in future episodes. I'm gonna share all of my great hacks for finding really good flight deals for your family. But we had never even planned to go to Japan and I found a good flight deal and said, hey, let's do it. And so we jumped in and we planned and we spent 12 days exploring Japan. And it is now one of my children's favorite place. My one of my kids who is very much a homebody and doesn't ever want to move has told me that he would move to Japan because he had such a good time. And so it was such a successful adventure for stretching us from our comfort zones on that front. But you can also do smaller trips. We did 48 hours in Chicago this summer. Chicago is a super easy flight from most major hubs. so it tends to be more affordable. We actually road tripped because we were visiting a friend in Minnesota and realized it was only a handful of hours away. And so we just swung over to Chicago on our way home and had a 48-hour adventure. It made it lower expense because we weren't spending a ton of time there. but we packed as much as we could into that weekend. We went to a free concert in Millennium Park. We explored the Maggie Daly Park, which was a really fun playground. We got deep dish pizza. We did the Ferris Wheel. it was just an absolute blast and such a fun way to do kind of a mini adventure of sorts within our own country. So Not everything has to be international, but if you guys do want to do some fun international trips, make sure you are following along and are subscribed to the podcast because I promise there is so much goodness coming for you on trips on how to navigate that practically as a family and also really specific tips on how to travel internationally on a budget. And then I want to really talk about some practical tools to actually make these things happen. We've talked about some ideas of what to do, but how do we actually practically make sure these things happen in our lives? And the first is to put it on the calendar like anything else you prioritize. The reality is adventure doesn't just happen by accident in this season of motherhood. Motherhood requires a lot of calendar coordination. And so if it's something you truly want to do, put it on the calendar. And maybe that's you plan the trip and you put it on the calendar, or maybe that's you put a planning time to talk about potential adventures that you want to do. If it's a microadventure and you want to go on a hike every Wednesday morning at a different park nearby, put that on your calendar. If it's a Sunday night that you want to have a family meeting to talk about what types of adventures, whether it's a micro adventure, a small adventure, or a larger scale adventure that you want to do with your family, what kind of bucket list items are, plan a family meeting to talk through those things and get your kids to have buy-in. And that brings me to my second point. Involve the kids in the planning. Kids having ownership in the adventure makes it easier logistically, one, because they have more buy-in. And they're more excited about it because they feel like they're truly a part of it. And also it's part of what you are modeling for them. You are teaching them to think through these things and to prioritize the things that you value and that are life-giving. And then I want you to give yourself permission for small versions for these micro adventures and the mini-adventures and every form of adventure to count. Don't compare your journey to an adventurous full life to someone else's. I could easily look at the adventures that my family has the margin to plan and to take in the season that we're in. And I could compare it to the Bucketlist family, who is a family I love to follow on YouTube. They Are full-time travelers, they get to do things with their kids that I haven't even been able to dream of yet. And I could compare my life to theirs and feel like, well, what's the point? I'm I can't do that. My husband's job doesn't allow us to travel that often, or we don't have the funds for this specifically. And I could totally let comparison steal my joy. And I think that is so true. Comparison is a common phrase, and I don't know who it's attributed to, but comparison is the thief of joy. And also comparison kills creativity. So take inspiration from the people that go on adventures around you. Take inspiration from my family's adventures. Follow the fun YouTube channels. I think I've talked, and if I haven't yet in the podcast, I will talk about Kara and Nate, that is our family's favorite kind of travel adventure YouTube channel. But take inspiration from them, but don't compare your hopes and dreams for adventure to theirs. It's gonna kill your creativity for the fun things that are going to be specifically life-giving to your family and it will steal your joy. Reject that temptation for comparison. And that's the vision that I have for this podcast Is that you can pull inspiration from the adventures that my family takes, from tips and tricks that I give you to be able to apply these rhythms of adventure in your own family. And that I could potentially even help you plan real trips. I am actually a certified travel advisor. So it's been One of the greatest joys this year. This is something I toyed with for years of actually doing. And I finally just pulled the trigger on it this year and got certified. And it has been so fun to plan family adventures for people. I actually have clients right now that are on like a two and a half week trip through France that I got to plan for them. And it has just given me so much joy to get little texts from her along the way of, we loved this activity that you suggested, or you know, this city is just spectacular. it was truly just so much fun for me to help them in the same way that I say for us and our adventures, a lot of the fun is just planning and preparing for it. I had just as much fun helping them plan and prepare for their trip, even though I'm not there. It was, it felt like I almost got to take the trip in a way. And so this is something that I am so excited to get to help. More families do. So If you guys have an adventure on your heart that you want to take as a family, whether it's domestic or internationally, please feel free to reach out to me. My email will be in the show notes. And I would love to chat with you about what that could look like, what your vision is, what your budget is, and help make that a reality. All right, so as we bring this episode to a close, I want to leave you with a challenge. As usual, and what I want to challenge you to do is to pick one micro adventure to put on your calendar this week. Doesn't have to happen this week. Maybe you're putting it on the calendar for next week or two weeks in the future. I know our calendars can fill up really fast as mamas, but find a microadventure, something That is a little bit unfamiliar and on purpose, put it on your calendar. Maybe it's to go on the hike, maybe it's to go to a new little Asian cafe and try bubble tea for the first time, whatever it is. Brainstorm a fun adventure, bring your kids into the conversation and put it on the calendar and get excited and start looking forward to it. And then I want to invite you if you take this challenge and you are on Instagram, share about it in your stories and please tag me. I would love to see what microadventures that you go on with your family the near future. My Instagram handle is at Ms. BritFisher. I will put that in the show notes. But it would be so fun for me, whether it's in your stories or if you just want to send me a DM, I would love to hear what you guys are doing with your family and how you are stepping outside of your comfort zone. Because as always, my heart for you guys is that you would keep your eyes up and your doors open. And I this is something I'm gonna say at the end of every podcast, but there's just so much beauty. You want to keep your eyes up towards Christ, but also your eyes up toward the world around you, up see the needs and the gifts and the joy of presence with your children and with your community And to have your doors open to whatever adventure or hospitality moment or anything it is that the Lord is calling you to. I truly believe this is a phrase that so many of us can benefit from by living this eyes up doors open life. I am so excited to hear about how God meets you as you continue to step outside of your comfort zone in these ways. And I cannot wait to continue sharing more with you about all of these topics in future episodes. You've got this, mamma. I will see you in the next episode.