Hi my name is Rebecca Jackson and I love fun, adventure, exploring new places and trying new things. I recently celebrated my 13th wedding anniversary to my awesome husband who supports me in my crazy ideas and plans. Over the years I have had many random jobs, but my favorite job were being a nanny and doing a college internship for Walt Disney World. Working at Disney was one of the best times of my life, and has fueled my passion for adventure. My husband and I met in college at a barbecue for our apartment complex. We set out on a long path of schooling that took us to Utah, Maryland, and Florida over a course of ten years. It was a team effort, and he is now a pediatric dentist. In the middle of my husband’s residency training we had 3 kids under the age of 5 at home, with a baby on the way, and I decided it was the perfect time to go back to school. I enrolled at BYU-I and went to school full time. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelors degree in Marriage and Family Professional Studies when my baby turned six months old. Life was extremely busy, but I learned I could do hard things and have fun doing it. I would do homework during nap time, late at night and even on vacations. Now I am a stay at home mom to 5 kids under the age of 11 juggling everyday life, homework, sports, music, and squeezing in as much fun and adventure as we can. I love sharing our adventures with others on my Instagram and helping others create their own adventures.
Many people sit around and wait for some grand adventure to happen to them or for someone to invite them along. Don’t wait for adventure to happen. Create it!
In high school I was the shy girl with a few good friends, but I rarely did anything if I was not invited. I would hear about all the fun things people were doing and I remember just wishing I would get invited. I dreamed about doing a study abroad or being an au pair or some other great adventure, but was never brave enough to actually do anything. When I started college, it was a few hours from home and I decided that now was my time. I joined many different groups, from student life to a service sorority, and even became president of my dorm.
Those activities were great, but not completely fulfilling. I still had a longing for go on a great adventure. So, after my first semester in college I applied for an internship at Walt Disney World in Florida. I knew no one and didn’t really know what I was doing, but decided I was going. I packed up my little two door car and drove down to Florida and started one of the greatest adventures of my life. It started this ripple effect throughout my life to be brave enough to just go for it and really experience life.
Making It Happen
World famous billionaire and adventurer Richard Branson said “If happiness is the goal – and it should be, then adventures should be top priority.” We all want happiness. If we sit around and wait for adventures to happen, then we are depending entirely on other people for our happiness. I found that as I stopped waiting for adventure to happen and I started creating it that I started really living and I found a lot of happiness in what I was doing. I wasn’t afraid to try new things. I made plans and made them happen. To live the life of your dreams you can’t sit around waiting, you have to create it. Here are some tips on how you can start creating your own adventures.
1. Adventures can be anything. Adventures are not just climbing mountains and traveling the world, but they are our daily decisions to create more fun in our lives. An adventure can be anything out of your normal routine or comfort zone. One day I stopped on the side of the road to let my children play in a cotton field that was ready for harvest. They loved our impromptu adventure and still talk about it today.
You don’t have to pack your bags and head out on some grand adventure. Adventures are not meant to stress you out, but to create more fun and happiness in your daily life. Start small, start with what you have, do something different than your normal routine. Have a picnic lunch in the backyard instead of eating at the table, go to a new playground with the kids, try a new restaurant for date night, or find a new family event around town to go to. There are so many great resources to find new things to try or places to go.
2. Try new things. Our little family has moved all around the country for school. Our first move was from a suburb on the West Coast to Baltimore, Maryland. Talk about two completely different places! We knew no one. Our family was far away, and to top it off my husband was in school full time and studying a lot. We had one baby at the time and I was a stay at home mom. It was not easy being alone or having limited family time. We decided that we would make the most of the family time we did have and did dozens of day trips exploring the East Coast. Because my husband was busy with school, that left me to either stay home or venture out with my little one. I would travel downtown to meet up for lunch with my husband. I took our toddler to the Children’s museum, different parks, the elephant parade through downtown when the circus came, and walked around the scenic harbor.
This is what started our family adventures. Small steps that let me know it was okay to venture out of my comfort zone. I was not afraid to get out and do new things by myself with my baby. We moved to Florida for more school, which gave us a whole new place to explore. By the time we were done with schooling we had four kids and a lifetime of memories made on these small adventures. If I had been afraid to try new things or take my kids out by myself, we would have missed out on so many fun things.
3. Invite other people along. In my early twenties I decided to transfer to a new college and room with an old friend. We both had boyfriends, I was working and going to school so I didn’t have many opportunities to meet new people. When the summer came my friend ended up getting married, I went through a messy breakup and found myself alone with a new set of roommates and with lots of extra time on summer break. I had two choices: sit alone, or start meeting new people.
I started planning parties at my apartment, hikes into the nearby mountains, movie nights, bonfires up the canyon, an epic slip and slide, day trips to the city, an overnight camping trip, hammock parties on our balcony, and dessert nights. Every time I planned an activity, more and more people showed up. We had a great time and we formed great friendships. It was probably the best summer of my life. We were always doing something fun and that is the summer my husband and I met and fell in love.
When my husband and I got married the adventures didn’t stop. We started inviting other families along with us to do things. We took a road trip to California during college with our neighbors who turned into dear friends. In residency we invited another family to go with us to the natural springs, to the beach, to barbeques and we always went to the Halloween and Christmas parties together. They are still some of our best friends. When you invite others along it gives you opportunities to build wonderful friendships.
4. Adventures are for creating memories. In a time where less is more and more people want to gift experiences instead of things, we value our time more than previous generations. We all desire to make connections with those we love and create lasting memories. Think of the best memories you have when you were a kid. The memories I have of being a kid are not the things I got but the things we did and the adventures we had. I remember long car trips to visit family, beach days, family vacations, and time we spent together doing things out of the ordinary. I can remember the hours of laughter and fun when my siblings and I put soap on the trampoline and spent all afternoon outside. It is the little moments in life that make it great and it is the little moments in life that we remember the most.
Now as I mom I try to create as many opportunities I can for my kids to create deep sibling bonds and memories. When we take our kids on long trips, day trips, or events around town there are few distractions. We get rid of most electronics and compel them to spend time together and rely on each other for their entertainment. Of course, there are still some sibling squabbles, but when they aren’t fighting over things there are far fewer incidents. There is nothing that I love more than when I hear my kids tell each other, “remember when we were on [that one trip] and we did [this] together.”
5. The right attitude can turn anything into an adventure. You may have heard the saying before, attitude is everything. As you branch out, try new things, and invite other people along, most of the time things do not go perfectly to plan. You have a choice in how you respond.
When my husband finished residency, we moved across the country for his first job. We packed the moving truck and sent it on the way. We had four kids 6 and under and we were going to make this move an epic family adventure. We were moving from Florida to Arizona and had a little over a week to do it. We planned our route, found fun stops along the way, had treats and prizes in the car for our young kids, and we set out on our roadtrip. The first few days were spectacular, we went on a pirate cruise in the panhandle of Florida, ate at a roadside train diner in Alabama, had beignets and jambalaya in New Orleans, and then we got to Texas.
Halfway through Texas our van started having major mechanical issues. In the 100+ degree heat our van started to jolt and shudder on the highway. Thankfully there was an exit ahead and we kind of rolled off the exit and found a gas station to park in to figure out what to do. That is when we realized that we had a problem with our transmission and our van was dead. We were stuck in a tiny town in East Texas with four small children, and a dead van full of luggage. We spent about five minutes overwhelmed and feeling pretty down about what had happened.
Then we went to work. We told the kids we were having an adventure and we figured it out. We found some free wifi, decided we were going to have to stay the night and walked to a hotel nearby. We got kids dinner at the only restaurant in town (McDonalds), and swam in the pool. The next morning, we caught a 7am shuttle to the airport 2 hours away and with 10 checked bags, 4 car seats, 11 carry ons and 1 stroller we flew the rest of the way to Phoenix. Again, I knew that it could have turned into a disaster but we laughed and turned it into an adventure. Anything can become an adventure with the right attitude.
With the new year ahead make it your best year yet, fill it full of adventures, fun, memories and happiness. Don’t wait for the adventures to happen, create them!
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Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day! 
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