Adventure and Togetherness

Posted by E on Feb 25, 2025 in E Posts | 0 comments

My family has two central themes that I discovered in the exploration of my genogram: adventure and togetherness. I took a look at these themes in my genogram presentation but wanted to expound upon them a little bit within my own nuclear family, with a focus on self identity.

Sometimes these two themes might work in contrast with one another – for example, the desire for exploration and yearning to stay close to home. Or perhaps wanting to explore new careers or places, while other members hold to traditional values and places. When turbulence hits the family, there are two contrasting options – to buckle down in the family, or to flee individually. To flee would be to lean into this new sense of adventure, while buckling down as a unit would fall into togetherness.

Yet adventure and togetherness can work in beautiful tandem when they are combined within the family unit.

And my family combined these things when I was 8 years old – we packed up, rented out our house, my Dad took a sabbatical, and we hit the road. We homeschooled and traveled for 365 days – just us. Besides grandparents meeting us along the way, it was only us – no one we knew, only us.

We went to 29 countries, took 45 flights, and only almost died a couple of times.

And as we walked through this unknown, exploring this adventure, the experiences we went through drew us together. Our adventure drew us to community and togetherness with one another. And I see this in my own heart – it’s bursting at the seams to run, to fly – but I want to do it with those closest to my soul.