Rainy Day Journal Away

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It’s adventure challenge time! This week I opened The Adventure Challenge Solo Edition book to a random page and selected an activity, without knowing at all what it was about.

As it happened, I landed on a page under the category Rainy Days. “Perfect,” I thought. “We have rain in the forecast for Tuesday.”

However, as my favorite local meteorologist likes to remind us, forecasts are based on weather models. And weather models aren’t always accurate.

What do I do, if the weather doesn’t cooperate?

This is Adventure Challenge #26, Rainy Day Journal Away.

The Adventure Challenge Solo Edition

The Adventure Challenge books contain scratch off adventures, suitable for adults, families and individuals. Each hardbound book contain 50 fun and unique challenges to experience with a partner, spouse, friends, family members or on your own.

The challenges encourage you to get off your phone and electrical devices and connect with each other…or more deeply with yourself. They are the perfect way to explore your city or the great outdoors, try something new, reconnect with your inner child or make new friends.

The keepsake book makes it easy to document the memories, with snapshots and a few words about the experience.

There’s a catch though. The challenges are hidden. You don’t know what the activity is, until you scratch it off. If you’ve followed me for very long, you KNOW I love playing games built around randomness. The Adventure Challenge books are like the games I play where I draw random slips of paper out of a jar and do the activity I select. There are no “do overs”, in those fun games I make up, or in The Adventure Challenge.

Rainy Day Journal Away

My instructions for the challenge I randomly selected:

“Time to bring out your inner Vincent Van Gogh. Go and get your favorite hot beverage and some art supplies. Today you are painting in the rain. (Not literally in the rain, that’d be kind of counter productive.

Open up your garage door, patio door or window, sit down and paint. As you paint have some music in the background that fits the theme of your painting. When finished painting, write a short story about the picture you created. You don’t have to paint what’s outside. The open doors and rain are for inspiration.”

With rain in the forecast, this activity seemed perfect! I love when things like this happen. I feel in the flow of life and empowered to create.

Except…what happens when the expected rain doesn’t arrive?

Rain, Rain PLEASE Don’t Go Away

Rather than gather water colors to paint with, I decided to have fun with a Buddha Board.

These boards provide a relaxing, Zen-like experience for the artist. Inspired by the concept of living in the moment, you paint on the surface of the board with water, using a bamboo brush. The creation comes to life…and then slowly fades away as the water evaporates. You can paint again and again on the board, using water.

Art supplies selected, I waited for the rain.

Tuesday came and went, with no rain. And while the forecast for Wednesday initially included a high probability for rain, the percentages dwindled to zero as the day drew to a close. So far I was 0 for 2, for rainy days.

The thing about living in the flow and embracing randomness is that I’ve learned to trust, even when circumstances seem contrary to what I hope for or want. As I drifted off to sleep on Wednesday evening, I came up with a Plan B if the low chances for rain on Thursday resulted in another day without precipitation.

My plan? “Alexa…play thunderstorm sounds!”

Experiencing the Adventure

I awoke early this morning to a flash of lightning and the sharp crack of thunder. Moments later the rain started. And more than just rain, a downpour turned the world watery gray. Thunder continued to rumble. My opportunity arrived exactly when it was supposed to.

In a few minutes, cup of hot peppermint tea nearby, spa music softly playing in the background via Amazon Music, painting began. I loved using the Buddha Board and experiencing the impermanence of my artwork.

A bird graced the board first…and after it faded away a willow tree took its place. Then I knew exactly what I wanted to capture, on the board and with my camera. I painted the Chinese symbol for adventure.

Rather than create a short story around the symbol, I’m living it during this Year of Adventure. It’s my story I’m telling, guided by the adventures that show up in my life.

The rain ended an hour and a half later. My painting faded away. However, the experience lingers still, another wonderful memory tucked into The Adventure Challenge Solo Edition book.

Adventures Await

Do these adventures sound intriguing to you? What about the amazing life lessons that accompany each one?

Challenge books are available in solo, family and couples editions. Each book contains 50 scratch off challenges. Check out the various books and the camera/book kits HERE. Use my code GOINGBEYOND to save 10% off of your order.

You can also purchase the camera HERE, from Amazon. The instamatic photos add to the fun, plus there’s a spot to add them in the book as you document the challenges.

I’m enjoying the challenges. And just as much, I appreciate what I’m learning about myself and about life through them. I didn’t need a backup plan for this activity. Nope, I just needed to wait for everything to align perfectly. It did. And when it did, I was ready to seize…or paint…the moment. There’s a bigger lesson here that I needed to experience this week. I’m so grateful for that opportunity!

 

 

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