Are You Professionally Adventurous or Adventurously Professional?

Professionally Adventurous

Stand them side by side with the Adventurously Professional and they might not look much different, but these are the kind of crazy outdoorsman and women that have dedicated their life to turning work into play.

These are the guides, photographers, bloggers, climbers, mountaineers, and everything in-between. Their lifestyle/work is equally exhausting as it is incredible. They rise before the sun breaks the horizon and they stay up to see the moon make way for the stars. They operate on top of mountains and on the bottom of oceans. Hitting each day with a grin and a kick in the ass. 

The key to understanding to how they achieve this is simple--passion

The In-Between

I have found myself at a critical juncture that I am sure many of you have found yourselves at as well; do I continue to pursue my passion of working in the outdoors, or should I try and put that degree to use? Then I thought, what if I do end up pursuing a more traditional career? Then that got me thinking... how many others are there like me out there in the traditional (more or less) workforce. I know there's a lot, I've encountered loads of 'em while out on the trail and on top of mountains, and they have always proven to have either very interesting, or very successful professions, and more often than not the two go hand in hand. But why is that?

Well for exactly why the same reason the Professionally Adventurous individuals are successful--passion. 

Adventurously Professional

These are those 9-5ers (more or less) that you see blazing the trail every weekend. The folks that, even after a 50 hour work week, can wake up and summit that 14er before the sun does. 

They reached that juncture just as I did, and ended up taking the more traditional path. This doesn't change the fact that they still have that adventurous nature churning inside of them. 

So instead of having a daily job in the outdoors, they find other means of channeling this adventurous/passionate nature through their more traditional line of work. This takes many forms, but the result is usually the same, success in doing something they enjoy through the means of being adventurous as a professional (hence the term).

Ending Thoughts

If you are passionate, it doesn't mean you have to be an adventurer, but if you are an adventurer I believe it means you have to be passionate. 

So... professionally adventurous or adventurously professional, which are you?