Make memories during #NationalExperienceWeek

EVERYONE has their own dream and reason behind behaving the way they do.

This week, from 10 to 14 April, marks Experience Week, where we should all strive to accomplish not only our own dreams, but help others to reach theirs too.

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Is your dream to gaze over Durban city, moments before attempting the famous Moses Mabhida stadium swing? Do you dream of hiking Kilimanjaro? Maybe your prime wish is to be lowered deep into the sea among great white sharks and look straight into the eyes of a vicious predator?

Or maybe it’s about watching your favourite band’s live performance or receiving word back from an admirable author you’ve emailed 500 times. Maybe, it’s merely receiving a day of pampering at a dreamy spa in the Drakensberg.

 

Whatever it is that you dream of experiencing, you shouldn’t let life pass you by without getting around to doing it. Life is too short not to, right?

And as if the joy and thrill of fulfilling your own dreams was not enough, imagine how wonderful it would feel to help someone else fulfill theirs. This is, in fact, what the week is all about.

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The history of National Experience Week

National experience week was created by a company called ‘Into the Blue’ in 1996, then known as Activity Gift Air Vouchers. The reason for its creation was simple – to make it possible for 60,000 people to watch the Biggin Hall Air Fair in Greater London, England.

Soon it became apparent that just watching was not enough, people wanted to take part in the fun too. That’s why Activity Gift Air Vouchers decided to work with its aviation contacts to create a range of air-based experiences that could then be purchased by those interested and gifted to those you care about.

Things went so well, in fact, that by 1998 many water and diving-based activities were added to the offer.

How to celebrate Experience Week

Push the boundaries and live a little during Experience Week.

Treating people to an entire experience instead of just, say, gifting them with money is a wonderful idea on many levels. Firstly, money tends to slip through people’s fingers, so unfortunately the cash you give them may well just disappear within a matter of days – or hours – and be forgotten.

An experience, on the other hand, creates memories that can be cherished for life.

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Another reason is that getting someone a voucher for something they’ve long dreamed of doing shows that you care and pay attention to their desires, as well as the fact that you took the time to think about what would make them happy.

It is vitally important to have good experiences, as doing new and exciting things makes us happier, more confident and more positive towards life.

Experience week is about making the lives of those you love and care about more fun and interesting. Could there be a more noble cause than that?

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