If you're over 60 and still do these 8 things, you're probably more adventurous than most millennials

Last week at the grocery store, I overheard two twenty-somethings lamenting how their parents "just don't get" their need for adventure and spontaneity.

The irony wasn't lost on me as I stood there with my cart full of ingredients for a Thai cooking experiment I'd found online at 2 AM.

There's this persistent myth that once you hit 60, your sense of adventure shrivels up like forgotten fruit in the back of the crisper drawer.

But here's what I've discovered: Many of us in the over-60 crowd are quietly out-adventuring people half our age. We're just not posting about it every five minutes.

Adventure after 60 looks different than bungee jumping and backpacking through hostels (though some of us do that too). Real adventure is about maintaining curiosity, embracing discomfort, and refusing to let age become an excuse for stagnation.

If you're still doing these eight things, you might just be more adventurous than your millennial neighbors.

1) You learn completely new skills from scratch

When I decided to learn piano at 67, my fingers felt like they belonged to someone else entirely. The first month was humbling - watching YouTube tutorials meant for children, fumbling through "Mary Had a Little Lamb" while my neighbor's kid practiced Chopin through the wall.

But something magical happens when you push through that initial discomfort. Your brain lights up in ways it hasn't in years.

Learning something new after 60 requires a special kind of courage. You're admitting you don't know something when society expects you to have all the answers.

You're willing to be terrible at something when everyone assumes you should have your life figured out. That takes more guts than posting a perfectly filtered selfie from Machu Picchu.

2) You travel without needing everything planned

Remember when traveling meant having every hotel booked, every meal planned, every minute accounted for? If you've abandoned that rigid structure, you're embracing real adventure.

Last summer, I boarded a train to a city I'd never visited, with just a general idea of where I'd sleep that night. The freedom was intoxicating.

Young people think they invented spontaneous travel, but there's something particularly brave about doing it when your knees creak and you need reading glasses to decipher train schedules.

You're choosing discovery over comfort, possibility over predictability.

3) You start conversations with strangers

Have you noticed how many people walk through life with earbuds in, avoiding eye contact?

If you're still striking up conversations with the person next to you on the bus, the barista making your coffee, or the fellow browser in the bookstore, you're keeping a sense of adventure alive that technology is slowly killing.

These random conversations are tiny adventures. You never know when the stranger at the farmers market will share a recipe that changes your dinner routine, or when the person walking their dog might become your new hiking buddy.

This openness to human connection requires vulnerability that many younger folks have forgotten how to access.

4) You change your daily routines regularly

Comfort zones become more comfortable with age, which makes breaking them that much more adventurous.

If you're still switching up your morning routine, trying new routes on your walks, or rearranging your furniture just because you can, you're fighting against the gravitational pull of habit.

I take evening walks regardless of weather, but I never take the same route twice in a week. Rain, snow, or shine, I'm out there discovering new gardens, noticing architectural details I've missed for years, finding shortcuts and scenic detours.

This small act of variety keeps my mind sharp and my spirit curious.

5) You embrace technology instead of fearing it

"I'm too old for that" has become the battle cry of the unadventurous.

But if you're teaching yourself to use new apps, experimenting with social media, or figuring out how to video call your grandchildren without summoning tech support, you're showing more courage than millennials who grew up with this stuff.

Technology changes constantly, and keeping up requires humility and persistence. When you're willing to feel foolish asking how to share a photo or what a hashtag does, you're choosing growth over pride. That's adventure in its purest form.

6) You pursue creative projects without worrying about the outcome

Virginia Woolf wrote, "So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters."

If you're painting without caring if it's "good," writing poetry no one will read, or learning guitar without dreams of performing, you understand adventure better than those who need external validation for every creative impulse.

Starting creative projects after 60 means you've likely abandoned the need to be productive or profitable with every pursuit.

You're creating for the joy of creating, exploring for the sake of exploration. That freedom from outcome is something many younger people, caught up in the gig economy and side hustles, have never experienced.

7) You maintain friendships across generations

If your friend group spans decades, if you grab coffee with your 35-year-old neighbor as easily as your 75-year-old book club friend, you're more socially adventurous than most.

Cross-generational friendships require flexibility, open-mindedness, and the ability to see beyond surface differences.

These friendships challenge our assumptions and keep us mentally agile. They prevent us from calcifying into "back in my day" thinking. When you can discuss both cryptocurrency and vinyl records with equal curiosity, you're living adventurously.

8) You say yes before figuring out how

When someone invites you to try something new - a dance class, a protest march, a new restaurant with cuisine you can't pronounce - do you say yes first and figure out the logistics later? This instinct to embrace opportunity before overthinking it is adventure distilled to its essence.

At our age, we have plenty of legitimate reasons to say no. Our bodies don't recover as quickly, our energy isn't infinite, our schedules might be complicated by medical appointments or caregiving duties.

Saying yes despite these real constraints shows a commitment to living fully that transcends age.

Final thoughts

Adventure isn't about age or ability; it's about attitude. While millennials might have the market cornered on documenting their adventures, many of us over 60 are quietly living lives full of curiosity, courage, and calculated risks.

We're learning languages to prepare for dream trips, joining hiking groups that challenge our assumptions about our limitations, and proving daily that growth doesn't stop at any particular birthday.

The most adventurous thing you can do after 60 is refuse to act your age, whatever that's supposed to mean. Keep saying yes, keep learning, keep surprising yourself. The view from this side of 60 is spectacular, especially when you're still climbing.