HOLSTEE Adventure Digital Art Instructions
- June 3, 2024
- HOLSTEE
Table of Contents
Adventure awaits.
Adventure Digital Art
While our grandest schemes and acts of bravery maybe some of our most vivid
memories, each day is an opportunity to venture forth: to push our limits and
face the unknown, even in small ways.
Pair curiosity with bravery in the experiences you have every day.
Adventure noun
ad·ven·ture | d-‘ven-ch r
An exciting or remarkable experience. Merriam-Webster Dictionary © 2022
Using this guide, discover how Adventure is the key to unlocking new
experiences, meeting new people, and embracing a life guided by imagination.
On the following pages, enjoy poetry, philosophy, and a range of activities
curated to help nurture this theme in your life.
Dive into teachings by Seth Godin, Astro Teller, and researchers from the
Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging — just to name a few. Learn
how to look at Adventure through the lens of bravery and curiosity as you
break outside of your comfort zone and redefine success and failure. Use this
guide as a tool to become comfortable with uncertainty and to embrace the
unknown with excitement.
ADVENTURE IN POETRY
Pirate Story
Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing,
Three of us aboard in the basket on the lea.
Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring,
And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea.
Where shall we adventure, to-day that we’re afloat,
Wary of the weather and steering by a star?
Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat,
To Providence, or Babylon, or off to Malabar?
Hi! but here’s a squadron a-rowing on the sea — Cattle on the meadow
a-charging with a roar!
Quick, and we’ll escape them, they’re as mad as they can be,
The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore. Robert Louis Stevenson
WarmUp
Adventure means something different to each of us.
What actions, sensations, and experiences come to mind when you think about
adventure?
Put a next to the ones you’d like to experience more often.
” A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
LAO TZU
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The Adventure Equation
Aspects of our thinking and behaviors that enable us to be happier, improve our relationships, and accomplish our goals are called character strengths. Along with other important character strengths — including creativity, kindness, and humility –, curiosity and bravery have been studied by psychologists and other researchers for over a decade. Their connection to adventure can be expressed in a simple equation:
Adventure = Curiosity + Bravery
Let’s look at curiosity and bravery more closely:
Curiosity is taking an interest in the whole human experience. It means
pursuing challenging opportunities and seeking knowledge so that we’re always
discovering new things. Think of curiosity as an internal switch that
encourages us to see new places, ask questions, and do things we’ve never done
before.
Bravery is the mental or moral strength that allows us to face personal
challenges, danger, or pain in pursuit of something good or meaningful.
Bravery isn’t the absence of fear — it’s the overcoming of fear in order to
accomplish something.
Confronting fear with curiosity and bravery allows us to better examine, learn
from, and grow past that fear. In certain moments, especially those of
potential personal growth, fear can point us in the right direction and should
be examined and questioned.
This is often how adventures are born.
” A traveler is really not someone who crosses ground so much as someone who
is always hungry for the next challenge and adventure.
PICO IYER
What would you like your next adventure to be?
Think beyond conventional ideas and remember our equation, Adventure =
Curiosity + Bravery.
- What are three things holding you back from this adventure? Is there any fear or risk involved?
- What can you do to overcome these obstacles?
This section was inspired by research from the VIA Institute on Character, a global leader in the science and practice of character led by Dr. Neal Mayerson, Dr. Martin Seligman, and Dr. Christopher Peterson.
The Cognitive Connection
Research from the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA)
shows that taking on activities that are both novel and challenging can help
to build dense neural networks called cognitive reserve. As we age, this
reserve is used to stave off brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. Researchers who
worked on this study share this important finding:
” People who have led more cognitively stimulating lives — through formal
education, complex paid occupations, and/or cognitively engaging hobbies —
have a reduced risk of developing dementia … Cognitive engagement provides
cognitive reserve that delays the onset of cognitive impairment, despite the
fact that Alzheimer’s disease pathology may be accumulating in the brain.
NICOLE D. ANDERSON, PHD, ANGELA K. TROYER, PH.D., AND K E L LY M U R P H Y,
P H D CCNA RESEARCHERS
BOTTOM LINE
There are things we can do to actually change our cognitive response as we
age. So, take on challenges (and adventures) now!
How can adventures — even small, everyday moments of curiosity and bravery —
help build your cognitive reserve? Here are four ways these researchers
suggest we build cognitive reserve. Don’t be afraid to get creative — the goal
is to make this work for you and get that cognitive reserve rockin’ and
rollin’.
- Bring creative thought and expression into your life. How might you nurture your inner artist?
- Explore cultural activities. What museums, festivals, conferences, or other activities could you prioritize?
- Do old activities in new ways. How might you shake up your routine?
- Learn something new. This could be absolutely anything! What’s one skill you’ve always wanted to learn?
Stepping into Growth
When it comes to adventure, Seth Godin offers an important distinction between
your comfort and growth zones:
In your comfort zone, you are not being challenged, which makes it a good
place to re-charge and feel grounded.
Being inside your growth zone requires full attention, is stressful, and
results in you guessed it growth.
” We’ve built a world where it’s possible to fly higher than ever, and the
tragedy is that we’ve been seduced into believing that we ought to fly ever
lower instead.
SETH GODIN, THE ICARUS DECEPTION
In his book The Icarus Deception, Godin reminds us that while Icarus was warned not to fly too close to the sun or his wings would melt, he was also warned to not fly too close to the ocean waves below him. In modern society, we’re often reminded of the perils of taking obvious risks, so we tend to regulate ourselves to the comfort zone believing that is where we are safe. In reality, there is a layer nestled perfectly between our comfort and danger zones, the growth zone. According to Godin many of us have “built our comfort zone around being obedient and invisible, and as a result, we’re far too close to the waves.”
Comfort Zone — The phrase “comfort zone” was coined in 1991 by Judith Bardwick, Ph.D. She defines the comfort zone as “a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.” While you may not be challenged in this zone, it offers space to feel grounded and make sense of things.
Growth Zone — The growth zone lies just outside of your secure
environment. It challenges current abilities and requires heightened
attention. Feeling stress is common along the way, but if there’s cause to
panic, you might have gone too far.
With each experience in the growth zone, your comfort zone expands. Investing
time here also helps build your self-efficacy — the belief in your ability to
accomplish hard things, a concept we explore more in the next activity.
Danger Zone — Beyond the growth zone is the danger (or panic) zone. Here, learning is impossible because the gap between your ability and the challenge at hand is wide. It’s hard to be open to learning when all you can feel is anxiety. At best, this zone is discouraging. At worst, it can be a threat to your safety.
WHY THE ZONES MATTER
Developing an intuitive sense of where your comfort zone ends and your danger
zone begins allows you to better focus on your growth zone.
In your life right now, what would it look like to step into growth?
Stumped? Answer this first: What is a challenge that your best self can
handle?
- What is holding you back?
- What will change if you overcome this challenge?
” Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
ANAÏS NIN
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Self-Efficacy
Our belief that we can overcome obstacles and achieve our goals — “I’ve got
this!” — is called self-efficacy.
Adventure helps us build self-efficacy. It gives us a kind of savviness, self-
confidence, and assurance that only comes from experiencing and overcoming
challenges.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow (best known for his hierarchy of needs) states
that in any given moment we have a choice:
We can step forward into growth
OR
We can step back into safety
Each time we choose to step forward into growth, our comfort zone grows a little bit more. Then, the next time we’re faced with the same challenge, it will already be within our comfort zone.
Think about a time you pushed yourself into new mental, physical, or emotional territory. How did you move yourself beyond your comfort zone? Was it worth it? Did you learn anything unexpected in the process?
Unexpected Growth
” We allow our unchecked optimism to fuel our visions but then we harness
enthusiastic skepticism to breathe reality into those visions.
ASTRO TELLER
Astro Teller is an entrepreneur, scientist, and author. He works at X,
Google’s “moonshot factory,” where engineers and creators dream up radical
solutions for some of the world’s biggest challenges.
In his TED Talk, “The Unexpected Benefit of Celebrating Failure”, he tells his
audience that “discovering a major flaw in a project doesn’t mean it always
ends the project; sometimes, it actually gets us onto a more productive path.”
Like a quest for the unknown, the adventures we set out on may not always live
up to our expectations or lead us where we intended — but we can learn
something every time we push our own boundaries.
Call to mind a challenge that you have not yet been able to overcome.
- Did your effort lead you to consider a new idea or direction? Would you change anything about your approach if faced with the same challenge again? Be open to radically different methods, especially if it requires a shift in perspective.
The Upside of Stress
One basic requirement for any adventure is the willingness to embrace some
discomfort — and with that comes stress.
” You don’t stress about things you don’t care about, and you can’t create a
meaningful life without experiencing some stress.
K E L LY M C G O N I G A L
The presence of stress is often viewed as something going wrong. Author and
health psychologist Kelly McGonigal challenges us to rethink this narrative in
her book The Upside of Stress: “How you think about stress affects everything
from your cardiovascular health to your ability to find meaning in life. The
best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink
and even embrace it.”
Stress tends to appear when something you care about is on the line.
Similarly, the presence of stress can act as a gauge for what is important to
you.
According to McGonigal, the most effective way to overcome a stressful moment
is not necessarily to `calm down’ your nerves but refocus the energy surplus
of the moment and use that to propel you forward.
How might embracing the energy of a stressful moment look for you?
Reflect & Discuss
Use these questions for self-reflection or to spark meaningful conversations.
ICEBREAKERS
- If you could spend one week traveling anywhere in the world, where would you go?
- What was your favorite adventure as a child?
- If you could learn any new skill, what would it be?
DEEPER QUESTIONS
- How do you define adventure?
- Looking back, what has been your greatest adventure so far?
- Describe three qualities of the most adventurous person you know.
- When was the last time you really pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone? How did that experience change you?
” Adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness, and curiosity. If
this is true, then `adventure’ is not only crossing deserts and climbing
mountains; adventure can be found everywhere, every day, and it is up to us to
seek it out.
ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS
Copyright © Holstee Inc. 2022 — This kit is inspired by our readings from Robert Louis Stevenson, Lao Tzu, Pico Iyer, VIA Institute on Character, Dr. Neal Mayerson, Dr. Martin Seligman, Dr. Christopher Peterson, The Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging, Dr. Nicole D. Anderson, Dr. Angela K. Troyer, Dr. Kelly Murphy, Elizabeth Gilbert, Seth Godin, Dr. Judith Bardwick, Anaïs Nin, Abraham Maslow, Astro Teller, Kelly McGonigal, and Alastair Humphreys. For further reading and curated resources visit: holstee.com/adventure
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HOLSTEE Adventure Digital
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[pdf] Instructions
Adventure Digital Art, Digital Art, Adventure Art, Adventure
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