Butterflies of the Unknown: Adventure Is for You Too
Annie F. Downs
7 min read ⭑
A few days ago, I was watching an Instagram reel of a musician onstage talking to the crowd. When he told people to raise their hands if it was their birthday, the crowd screamed. When he told them to raise their hands if they were there for a celebration, people all over the massive stadium hooted and hollered and threw their hands in the air.
And then he said, “Who here came by themselves?”
I love that question.
I also ask that question almost anytime I am on a stage. I think the people who attend concerts and other events alone are top-tier brave. It takes a lot to go alone to see an artist, a speaker or a pastor you want to hear, or attend an experience you don’t want to miss. It means you choose to care more about what you like than the comfort of staying home because you couldn’t find someone to go with you.
Annie Spratt; Unsplash+
As the musician asked the “alone attendee” question, hands went up sporadically all around the stadium. The crowd cheered again, and he quieted the full audience. He encouraged those solo attendees, told them he was proud of them, and said that, of course, it felt weird to come alone, but hopefully it was feeling easier as the night went on. And then he said, “If you can do whatever you want on your own, the whole world opens up for you.”
Let me say that again: If you can do whatever you want on your own, the whole world opens up for you.
I have found this to be profoundly true.
Of course, I think trips, concerts, other events and church are all more fun if you’ve got a partner in crime to be with the whole time. But I was missing a lot of fun things when I wasn’t willing to go alone.
You don’t have to love it.
You don’t have to prefer it.
You just have to be willing to do it.
This isn’t about whether you are single or married either. There are plenty of things I want to do that a dude might not enjoy. I’m thinking of when I used to go to scrapbooking conferences. (For real, I did that.) If I hadn’t been willing to go alone, I would have missed out on it altogether. And that had nothing to do with being unmarried. I just didn’t have a lot of scrapbooking friends.
Whatever God has next for you will require you to do some of it alone. Now, I’m the queen of build your personal board of directors! And have your people! And get help! But there are still some journeys that require you to be willing to go on your own. To seek out what God might have for you to do next.
Seeking is the bridge from saying out loud what you want to actually starting to do it. To moving toward what you think you were made to do, the story that is uniquely and beautifully yours, the things that you’ve been held back from until now.
And we are always on a journey. We are always going somewhere. There’s a place waiting for us.
Let me be clear. Going on a journey does not mean you need a new ZIP code. This is not about uprooting-type moving. This is about having movement in your life that allows for growth, change, and no longer being held back. Open up your mind and your heart to all the ways you may be invited by God to journey with him without ever leaving the home you live in today.
Because a new journey is here. This journey is yours. You don’t have to be held back anymore, and new doors open the moment you’re not. Time to walk through. And here’s why.
You need a journey because a change of scenery gives you a change in perspective.
There’s nothing wrong with your current view of life; it’s just time to expand it. And you know that.
I know that too. I mostly write books in coffee shops. I have frequented almost every single coffee shop in a two-mile radius of my home. But a few weeks ago, I drove 30 miles away from my house in Nashville to a barbecue restaurant. I arrived about three in the afternoon, basically halfway between official mealtimes, when the place was nearly empty and the staff was sparse. I ordered pulled pork and fried okra. I picked a table all the way to the right, about halfway back. I filled my cup with pebble ice and sweet tea, sat down and unpacked my notebook and laptop. I knew I needed a change of scenery. And I was right. I sat down with a pen and notebook ... and the words and phrases started to come together.
A change of scenery is a good reminder of all the things you already know, but it can magnify them — how big the world is, how different we all are, how unique your story is and how one of a kind you are. It busts you out of being held back and sends you down the path made just for you.
A new view gets you unstuck.
You need a journey because you deserve the adventure.
“You have what it takes to do this and to do it well. Perfectly? Of course not.”
You do. You deserve to have your nerves tied in knots while you wonder what will happen next. You deserve the worry spots and the elation that come when you are living an adventure.
You deserve the butterflies of the unknown.
Yes, I said, “deserve.” I’m slow to use the deserve language, because I think it is often thrown at us in ways and places that are just meant to make us feel better or feel different but can’t really be backed up by anything. But I can back this one up.
Adventure is not reserved for the rich or the healthy. Adventure is not reserved for the strong or the capable. Adventure is not reserved for the young or the old. Adventure varies in size and investment and outdoorsiness. But it is not just for them. It’s for you.
You deserve it. You live on this planet and breathe the same air as the rest of us. You are just as likely to find yourself in the middle of an adventure that you didn’t plan as any of us, if that’s what you want.
A few weeks ago, my friend Sarah and I were texting about things that we like. We both identified how much we enjoy adventure. She went on to list a variety of adventures that all are around camping, mountains, bikes and dangling from the sides of rocks. (Thanks, but no thanks on half of those. Give me bikes and mountains; keep your ropes and tents.)
I followed up with my own list: independent bookstores, secret gardens, restaurants I’ve never tried.
It’s all adventure. And you can be picky about what kind of adventure interests you. Again, I will not be using ropes to keep me from falling off rocks, but I will not close the door to adventure. I’m unwilling to be held back by that. You need a journey that involves adventure — whether that is trying the new guacamole recipe at the local Mexican restaurant or learning to fly a plane, or both or neither.
You get to define adventure. You just don’t get to close the door to it, not if you want the life you’re going for.
You need a journey because staying where you are doesn’t make you who you want to be.
Again, this isn’t about location (unless it is for you). This is about not staying stuck — in how you treat your body, how you make your decisions, whom you hang out with, where you worship, how you vote, what you read, what adventures you choose or let choose you.
Staying stuck keeps you stuck. (Profound.)
There is no shame in growing and changing. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of my life in New York City, the second city I now call home. I have often looked back on other versions of me and felt some shame over who I was before I matured in a certain way. I have a particular memory from college that comes to mind too frequently, in which I was trying too hard to get a friend to stay over at my house in Athens, Georgia, because I thought it was mature and cool to have a guy friend stay over on the couch. My guess? None of my roommates or that dude (whose name I actually can’t remember) can even remember the conversation or the night. But I find myself embarrassed at times over that one random moment and my lack of maturity.
It’s been different in New York. I see myself changing; I experience my growth and blooming, and I see it paying off in every city, in every relationship, in work and in my personal life. But I’m not ashamed. I’m deeply proud. I really like who I am becoming and who being a citizen of two cities has made me. I don’t have anything but thankfulness for the Annie who got me here. Staying where I was wouldn’t have let me become who I am becoming right now.
You need a journey because you already know what it is…. In some ways, you probably already know the first steps.
Boy, that makes my stomach hurt. You?
(Because, yes, I know what my journey is too.)
Now it’s time to journey. You have what it takes to do this and to do it well. Perfectly? Of course not. Quit acting like that’s even an option! You are beautifully human from start to finish of this thing, so of course there will be bumps in the road and wrong turns. That will happen, and you will survive. You will be better for it, even if a little dinged up. Time to go find what you’re looking for.
Time to seek.
Annie F. Downs is a New York Times bestselling author, sought-after speaker and successful podcast host based in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for her engaging, honest style, Annie makes readers and listeners feel like longtime friends. She co-founded the That Sounds Fun Network, home to her flagship podcast, That Sounds Fun, and hosts the new television talk show I Gotta Ask.
Taken from “Don't Let That Hold You Back” by Annie F. Downs. Copyright © 2026. Used by permission of WaterBrook.
