Category: Perspectives

It’s safe to say that adventure-loving people are finding the restrictions around travel difficult. I’d argue most people are finding the loss of freedoms challenging, whether you are adventure-loving or not. But truth be told, we all face times when feel stuck because of life commitments, financial constraints, or health challenges. It’s just that the pandemic is so concentrated and widespread, making it more difficult than usual and taking a serious toll on our physical and mental health as a result.

We are feeling it deeply. We know we have to escape our “walls.” We try and find ways to get changes of scenery to find the variety we crave. When we’ve tired of exploring local surroundings, we daydream, we search travel sites for fun destinations, and we live vicariously through others’ days past on social media. But as much as living through others temporarily helps, it doesn’t replace our own real-world experiences.

So, whether an introvert or an extrovert, an adventure-lover or a homebody, we must satisfy our desire to escape boredom and routine and add spice to our lives however we can. How best to do that?

Creating a digital experience that doesn’t cost anything and that might actually lead to a real one down the road is a great first start.

It is easy to go back through old albums and the reams of photos from trips past. You can relive those moments and escape your world for a moment. All good. But I’d challenge you can also dream about the future and create memories yet to unfold. There’s magic in that.

Instead of just adding links to a folder or typing up notes in a digital notebook – which are not overly motivating if truth be told – why not create a full digital experience. Complete with activities, restaurants, hotels…whatever your heart desires.

With Experium you can create your dream experience and it doesn’t have to cost you anything.

Each experience framework details all the logistics of a rich, multi-component experience. Even the people. So, pick a destination, choose a future date, and invite others to your dream experience!

Here’s one of mine:

When was the last time you did something that made your heart sing? When you wished you could freeze time to enjoy what you were doing just a bit longer. For most people, the answer is probably longer than they would like, or even worse, longer than they can remember.

I live in a world where it is OK to continually have the best meal you have ever had or see the most amazing sunset or full moon over and over again. Even if you aren’t as intense as I am, I challenge that everyone has their thing or things that makes them deeply happy, and when they experience them, they feel that rush that makes the world stop for a moment.

It is a matter of finding what those things are for you and doing them more often, isn’t it? Seems pretty simple, right? For the most part, yes, but sometimes we need a little nudge.

The problem is we live busy lives and we forget. We also get stuck in routines, much like a hamster on a wheel. It is, after all, called “the daily grind” for a reason. But even the hamster knows he needs to take a break sometimes to see what’s new.

Make an effort to find the things that make you truly happy and take the time to do them…and not just once, but over and over. Maybe it is a walk on a crisp autumn day when the leaves are turning that incredible shade of red, or perhaps it is catching up with your friends over a great bottle of wine and some of that fantastic French cheese you found and have been dying to share. Wine or tea, winter or summer, pool or beach: find your own happy place.

And remember, happiness isn’t a one-time thing. It is a state of mind, and a contagious one at that. So, try new things and do them with the people you care about. You just might find something new that will make your heart sing. After all, it is your Journey and you owe it to yourself to make it a memorable one.

Experium. It’s where your Experiences Live!

You shared a great experience with friends. Maybe it was that weekend at the cottage. Or perhaps it was that fun, backyard cookout, the one where the hosts’ friends went all Godfather and left the roasted pig’s head on a platter on their bed (LOL, that actually happened). 

You take photos. And if you are like most people, those photos then sit on a drive somewhere, only to be looked at again when you decide to do some technology spring cleaning and you notice them again. Why is that? Well I can answer that for myself…I never had a good way to store them that presented them as anything more than just simply photos in a folder.

My husband and I are prolific organizers. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “A place for everything and everything in its place.” We have tens upon tens of thousands of photos. They sit in folders organized by vacation or event, by child, and in some cases, just to make sure we can always find them, they were duplicated and added to other differently labelled folders. Crazy, yes.

We thought we had the perfect organization system. The issue was that we only went back and looked at them if we were looking for something else to begin with. They were never top of mind. When I would see them, I would open a few up and then I was done. I would get lost looking through the ones of the kids when they were small and of the ones of us on family vacations. 

There is something magical about being transported back. But photos only take you part of the way. You need context. 

Back before everything was digital (yes, I am that old), I made a scrapbook of my first son’s early years and filled it with print photos. I did the same for our wedding and early vacations. I can’t tell you the last time I looked at those albums. As I started writing this, I was prompted to take a peek and was shocked at how many print photos there were (many that I had completely forgotten about).

As I flipped through the photos, I was was saddened by how far the memories had faded. Exactly what restaurant was that where I had that amazing flaming drink? And darn, I can’t remember the name of that place in Mexico where we swam in that cenote – I still cringe when I think about those bats. Those were such great experiences and yet they seem only distant memories. Now, thanks to Experium, I don’t have to worry about that any more.

Now I can plan and organize all my experiences, detailing flights, accommodations, food & drink, transportation, and activities. I can invite others, whether they be one person or a group, and allow them to collaborate. I can even add private for-their-eyes-only details. 

And to my heart’s delight, I can add photos to each experience. I can tag them and write descriptions to aid my declining memory. I can include the people I shared the experience with, allowing them to add their own photos. No need to ask anymore. 

And for all those random photos, I can create albums. I have an album for each of my children, a digital treasure trove of photos that we can add to. Hundreds of photos of just them. And when they leave the nest, I can transfer ownership over to them. We have the same for family albums and albums with friends. It’s perfect!

I have all my experiences in one place, displayed beautifully in a timeline that actually looks like a timeline. It gives every important detail a place to live. Now I just have to digitize all those print photos and I am all set! All my best experiences laid out in exquisite detail.

Are you for or against social media? It can be a fun question to ask at a party, much like, what do you think of Trump? It is a question that can come back at you with very heated opinions. For most people, their opinion on social media isn’t generally a simple yes or no, good or bad. Mine is no different.

I can see why people like social media. You can share your thoughts, opinions, and photos with people you are “friends” with. But notice I put the word friends in quotations, as in “are they all really friends?” 

How many of these “friends” have you actually spoken with in the last year, let alone spent time doing something with? Yes, spoken, as in you are in the same room and look each other in the eyes and speak words between you.

There’s that elementary school chum that recently found you after 25 years. There’s also your workmate that you see in the office every day, but you rarely talk. 

And then there are those “friends” that you haven’t actually even met. There’s your best friend’s neighbour’s cousin who liked a photo you posted (he only saw it because of the sharing rules which are too complex for most to understand). Unfortunately, now you also have to endure seeing photos of his dog dressed up like Santa and Princess Leia.

Social Media was created to connect and reconnect people and to share content in a one-to-many way. There is no arguing that it does that really well. There is also no arguing there can be value in that. 

What it doesn’t do well, though, is foster real relationships. That only comes from spending quality time with others, sharing experiences and creating memories together. It’s being able to say to someone “that restaurant was fabulous – we have to go back” or “I can still see that look on your face when you saw that barracuda…so funny.” It’s not just looking to see how many likes you got or thinking that your life isn’t as great as someone else’s because they just went somewhere fantastic and you didn’t.

Let’s think about the times in our lives that we have been the happiest? I know mine have been when I was doing something somewhere with someone I cared about. I think most people will say at the end of their lives that they wished they had spent more time with their nearest and dearest doing things they enjoyed. It won’t be, “I wish I had spent more time posting about it and got more likes.”

Sharing your photos and thoughts is great if it is with the people you actually shared the experiences with. Those are the people that really care, and they care because they can relate. It means something to them. Not to take away from those that couldn’t be there but still would like to see some of your photos. They are important too. But I would guess they want to see the content in the context of the actual experience and not just a flat posting. It is this belief that got me thinking about how to best organize my own time.

With every experience we have has three common elements: where we are, what we are doing, and with whom we are doing it. You could be on a hike with your partner in the Himalayas, alone on a spiritual retreat in Sedona, or hosting your child’s baseball team’s year-end barbecue in your backyard. I call these three things The Triad of Soulful Living. It is the who, what, and where of personal experience. It is what makes experiences different each time and what makes them unique to you. The great thing is that they can be whatever you want them to be. They are yours and yours to make worth remembering. In order to do that properly, they require planning and execution. Wrap all that up in a single solution and you have Experience Media.

Experium is an Experience Media™ platform. It was built for people that love to live life fully. It allows its users to connect meaningfully and helps them to plan, invite, collaborate, share and remember their event and vacation experiences.