I keep seeing this one post on tumblr that goes along the line of "I wish the world was as exciting as books. There are no dragons or adventures in real life. Whine whine blah blah". I hate this post with every fiber of my being. Sure there are no dragons in the world, but there are so many adventures and places that seem like they are so perfect they had to be written into existence. There are so many people that will be just as static as some characters and some that are ten times more dynamic than book characters. Writers write what they know, right? Then how can you claim that this world has nothing in common with books.
I recently went to work at an orphanage in the Philippines for a couple of months and I remember my first drive up the mountain to the orphanage. The trees are everywhere and they are all reaching up to the sky. The light flutters through every leaf until it reaches the ground or caresses a person. The wind blows gently as if it is trying to whisper into your ear, and the mountain never ends. The beauty in this place was more than any words can describe and I will always remember what it looked like. I also had the pleasure of staying at a tiny hotel right on the coast of the island. The water was translucent and was green as the result because of the green algae growing on the ground. There was no sand, only a graveyard for coral. I was so inspired by the beauty in this place that I wrote a tiny story describing it. (I say story because I don't know what else to call it, but here it is.)

The translucent water envelopes your feet as every toe gets submerged under as if hiding from the coral graveyard they had just traversed. There is no sand here, but somehow it makes it more pure. The trees are waving to the children as they dare nature to take them away to another world of sleepless nonsense. The green from the grass that laughs at the high ground colors the ocean where the water licks the coral lightly, wearing it down atom by atom. One day this beach will be sandy, the water jokes to the passing waves as the foam washes away in the next crash. The sky covers the water with its blue blanket, protecting it from the harshness of space and hiding it from the humans who wish to peek into the life that the ocean calls children.

The dock watches like a silent god, never moving or complaining, just watching. Oh how I want to be that dock who is never bothered by the uncovered sun that dives down into the ocean burning everything with its greedy touch. I hear nothing but the waves as they try to stretch farther and farther before high tide ends. The moon sings the lullaby of a mother calling her children back and forth to stay in sight.

Life is under every inch of the ocean; some are waiting for the water to rush to the other side of the world and some are dancing in the depths of the water in spite of the despair that it will leave them again soon. 

It was written in minutes after first sitting out on the dock, feet dangling over the water as it crashed into the rocks, just watching nature take its course. There was something so magical in that one place. Little did I know that something even more magical was waiting for me in the very next day.

There is this waterfall in Oslo, Philippines and it is gorgeous. It is magical. It is surreal and I got to stand underneath it. The rocks were shaped by the running water as the waterfall broke into many different streams that plummeted down onto the earth. It's cool water was refreshing enough to call it the fountain of youth and I long to go back there some day. It was perfect.

In the middle of this long rant, my point is that who knows what this world holds for you. There is so much hiding in the unexplored corners of this world. You can spend an eternity wondering why you can't be part of this book or that story. You can spend your life ripping apart your skin searching for something more than you. You can spend every day wishing that you were something more. Or you can get up and realize that there is so much out there. There are adventures and even if they do not hold a dragon fight, they might have a princess in need or maybe just a simple path to self discovery. Maybe you will save the world and maybe you will be okay with being ordinary  You will meet people that seem to be made just to keep you company and some that were made to be your enemy. (Try to not be so egotistical that you believe that they are here on this earth just for you though. Don't be that guy.) 

Have the courage to see all that this world has to offer and go get it. No one is holding you back. No one can stop you. And no book will have anything on your adventure.