I’m excited to announce the first book to explain why adventure is essential to our wellbeing.
Since Explorers Connect started, I’ve been searching for a way to communicate the benefits I’ve seen from adventuring. Adventure changed my life. And for the last twenty-six years of taking others on adventurous activities, I have seen it change people of all ages and abilities, and from all walks of life – seen it turn the timid into the confident, the addicted into the recovering and the lost into the intentionally wandering. As a force for change, adventure can be powerful like few others.
However as a society we do not seem to value adventure, its seen as a frivolous luxury, when in fact so many of us at Explorers Connect know that it is an essential part of a fulfilled life.
I asked myself the question I can’t stop asking: how can we harness the transformational power of adventure, both for ourselves and for others? And this is what Adventure Revolution is all about. We’ll journey across jungles, up volcanoes and down rivers with people who had a lot to lose but even more to gain from adventure. We’ll also camp under the stars close to home and learn to surf or climb for the first time – adventure does not have to be in hostile environments or involve breaking records to count.
We’ll meet Amina, a homeless, angry teenager who became an inspiring youth leader. And Freyja, a successful yet unsatisfied manager who, through climbing, became a proactive, brave woman in charge of her life and career. And Kelvyn, an entrepreneur who was able to use adventure to help him cope with tragic events in his life and now helps others to boost their own wellbeing through adventure. These are normal people, not adrenaline junkies or superhumans.
Drawing on lessons I’ve learnt from more than two decades of leading groups into the wilderness around the globe, my own research with modern hunter-gatherers, and the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology, I show how adventure has the power to transform ourselves, maybe our worlds.
Six years ago I gave my first talk about what I call the #AdventureEffect and our need for an #AdventureRevolution. I wanted to share a big new idea. The reaction of the audience that day at Base Camp Festival gave me the courage to keep researching. So thank you to the Explorers Connect community who were there. After a lot of procrastination and a two year babybrain hiatus, the lockdowns finally made me slow down enough to finish writing.
This is the only book I have ever wanted to write. This is the book I wish I could have found for myself decades ago but it didn't exist. This is the book I want you to read because I genuinely believe it will excite and empower you.
This is what I have discovered. If you love a good adventure story.....If you believe in the Nature Effect and want to know about the Adventure Effect.....If you've ever felt that Adventuring makes you feel most alive....
You can pre-order a copy here
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adventure.../dp/0349428239
https://www.waterstones.com/.../belinda-kirk//9780349428239
https://uk.bookshop.org/books/adventure-revolution-the-life-changing-power-of-choosing-challenge/9780349428239
Thanks in advance for your support, please do let me know what you think of the book and its message. But most importantly keep adventuring.
Belinda Kirk, Founder of Explorers Connect
More About The Author
Belinda Kirk is an explorer and the leading campaigner promoting the benefits of adventure on wellbeing. For the past twenty-five years, she has led dozens of international expeditions and remote filming trips. Belinda has walked through Nicaragua, sailed across the Atlantic, searched for camels in China’s Desert of Death, discovered ancient rock paintings in Lesotho and gained a Guinness World Record for rowing unsupported around Britain. She has led numerous youth development challenges, pioneered inclusive expeditions for people with disabilities and managed scientific research missions in the Amazon, Sinai and Alaska. In 2009, Belinda established Explorers Connect, a non-profit organisation connecting people to adventure and has encouraged 30,000 ordinary people to engage in outdoor challenges. In 2020 she launched the first conference to explore the positive impact that adventurous activity has on wellbeing.