Choose Your Own Adventure!

Beginning in 1979, there was a series of books published that were marketed for kids and teens between the ages of 7 and 14. This series was more or less a collection of interactive gamebooks, whereby the reader was the protagonist, or the hero or heroine of the story. The stories were all written in 2nd person, or the “you” or “your” perspective. YOU were the main character, and it was you who made all the choices that determined the story’s outcome and it was you as that main character who could create different endings.

The reader’s decisions influenced the story’s direction and led to multiple paths or story arcs, which then led to various conclusions-some successful and others not so much-sometimes you would come to an untimely ending-end of story. At the end of each chapter, the reader was presented with two or more choices, and after choosing the preferred option, you would turn to its page number and go on from there.

It was not linear. You flipped through all the pages in the book as you made your way through the narrative that you created.

Part of the appeal of these books was the fact that you could be anything you wanted to be…. A hiker, a cave explorer, a private investigator, a doctor, a spy, a mountain climber, or a scientist. This series was considered gender and race neutral regarding who the main character was and the role could be from a child or adult’s perspective. It was a world of nothing but possibilities and you were in total control…. Up to a certain point.

This series was published up until 1998 and it became the longest-running and most influential gamebook series to date (according to A.I.).

What was its name? Choose Your Own Adventure, and it was brilliant.

It was brilliant for many reasons and these books both excited and terrified me as a young reader. I never knew what would befall my character.

I was taking a chance with each and every choice I made. There were other characters involved as well and their outcomes also depended upon me.

One’s choices reflected one’s values-your character could either act from an altruistic place-or-from a more ego-centric place. These books often really did reflect the reader/you in a way that demonstrated true character or the character you really wished to be. A lot could be garnered from these experiences, these moments of escape into a story of one’s choosing.

If you didn’t like the ending, you could start all over again-just don’t make the same choices!

And no cheating! Don’t peak and look ahead at what a potential choice could lead to-

Life doesn’t work that way.

There’s no crystal ball showing you the outcome. You are all you’ve got, except for one thing-your intuition. A much underused skill, in my opinion. Often passed off as a gut feeling that’s not to be trusted or it’s something else-something you’re making up, therefore it has no merit.

But the choices are endless!

You can be anything you wish-a tagline employed by many successful ventures throughout history, such as Barbie and GI Joe. Here’s one thing I know for sure-

Choices are our superpower

Watch your algorithm. We create the tigers and the missiles, or the kittens and the rainbows.

We settle in fear or creativity. Fear keeps us small, powerless, choiceless.

Creativity? Now, you’re choosing possibilities.

Choice’s counterpart is Control, a curious paradox.

We are both not in control of anything (external circumstances) and at the same time, we are in control of everything (internal responses). We have zero say over another’s actions, but we have all the control regarding having full agency of response and perspective.

The choice is yours.

Someone who is more risk-averse may choose to remain on the sidelines where it’s a bit safer. For another, taking a risk may appear enticing, alluring, but also dangerous or a bit scary.

If you don’t like where the story’s going, make a different choice in the game of Life. Ohh…. Now, there’s one to write about-my sister and I loved playing that boardgame, at least I did. 😁

What I’ve come to realize about the popularity of these books is that they represent this….

A Realistic Sense of Unpredictability

Things set in stone aren’t exactly our style…. There’s a little Indiana Jones in all of us.

Now, gang….

Go Choose Your Own Adventure!

Til next we meet in the forest….

Love,

Amanda♥️

The Road Not Taken
By: Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.