scenic routes, snorkelling and internet world tours
Issue #45 - dive in for travel inspired creativity and illuminating links.
THE QUEST DIGEST by Creative Quests is a treasure chest of ideas & stories exploring what it means to live an illuminating, creative life. Written by Sam Furness and delivered when inspiration and creativity strike. Subscribe to receive each issue or send to a friend in need of a creative boost.
Dear Questers,
And we’re back!
A mixture of epic travels and behind the scenes development for Creative Quests have kept me away from inbox dancing. Consider this my re-entry to the dance floor!
We’ve gained some new friends here in last few months… welcome! I’m Sam Furness, founder of Creative Quests.
Over 8 years I’ve been experimenting with how intentional curiosity can change our creative perceptions and guide us toward leading lives with exploration, play and connection at their core. I’ve explored creativity through 30 different lenses - aiming for 100 in my life time.
Creative Quests is a global community and creative playground for people fuelled by curiosity.
Since January 2021 we’ve hosted a 12 part series of month-long Quests - which have invited people (1200-ish to be exact-ish) around the world to immerse their daily curiosity in a theme. Each Quest has revealed new ways to see and creatively explore the world we live in. It’s built a pretty amazing community of curious people from all walks of life along the way.
Throughout 2024 we are evolving the possibilities of what Creative Quests can be - alongside people in our community. Think ‘one-of-a-kind communal home for creative exploration’.
That’s what is on the vision board at least.
July is packed with lots of CQ firsts (big gulp)
🏕️ the launch of our new virtual club space
📒 co-designing the prototype of our first publication
🌟 our first guest editor on this newsletter
🔮 debuting a new type of Creative Quests festival experience
This newsletter will also start sharing more of wonderful voices of people in our Quester community… so you are here at a good time!
Until then…. 3 creative musings from my travels:
🚲 on the scenic route
During a 3 day motorcycle ride in the most northern parts of Vietnam we witnessed some of the most breathtaking landscapes we’d ever seen. Places that felt like time doesn’t exist in the same way we’re used to. Indigenous cultures and peoples - some of whom had a populations of ~ 100 people.
My favourite moments? When we took the path less travelled. The bumpy, windy roads that seem a little precarious - but lead to somewhere completely unexpected. Like a bamboo forest!
A creative life is choosing the scenic route. It may be the slower path to your perceived destination. But it’s the fastest way to seeing things others don’t see. It’s the fastest way to unusual and interesting discoveries.
So, really… when it comes to creativity, the scenic route is the short cut in the long run.
🤿 on snorkelling
Is there a more perfect metaphor for living a life that embraces wonder, exploration and everyday delights than snorkelling? I found myself wondering this whilst peering out from a boat in the east Vietnamese sea to a fairly non-descript rocky outcrop… then putting my goggles on, diving in and being transported to a new world entirely.
A cerulean, shimmering, playscape of textures, light and movement.
As above, not-so-below, it seems.
When snorkelling you are completely tuned into your senses: following your curiosity, marvelling at the more-that-human. In total awe at the miraculousness of life. All for the sake of leisurely exploration, sensory pleasure and wonder.
Next time you need a little boost of inspiration and connection - try apply the snorkelling mindset to a walk (preferably in nature - although ‘city snorkelling’ is a worthy experiment). Apply the wonder googles, dive in and be guided by the things you notice beauty or strangeness in.
Just… maybe leave the actual googles and flippers at home (or don’t and send pics!)
🌐 on internet world tours
If you read our last newsletter, you will have read about ‘Sankofa’ - the amazing Akan word from Ghana - that is shaping the approach to Creative Quests this year. It means ‘looking back to move forward’.
While away, riding motorbikes and snorkelling, I had the clarification that none of the future potential for this project will be possible without the collaboration and creative contribution of the incredible Questers that have formed the CQ journey so far.
One of my biggest regrets is not creating more time for 1-2-1 connections while running our first 3 years of cohort based Quests. It’s not an easy balance to strike!
And so began the idea for the Quester World Tour. A simple format. One hour catch-ups on Zoom with as many past Questers as possible throughout 2024. Learning more about each other’s lives, the creative things we hope to achieve and how we might help each other get there.
I’m currently 34 tour dates and 8 countries into the Quester world tour and it’s been a very joyous, plentiful experiment in the magic of reconnection. So much love and sparky energy which has led to ideas on how we could collaborate further.
If you did one of our Quests from Jan 2021 - Jan 2024 you can join the Quester World Tour by booking a slot here. I would love to reconnect.
A round up of curious finds from our Quester world.
🤿 I googled ‘snorkelling on land’… it’s a thing!
🗺️ Atlas of the Future: Daily adventures in a better tomorrow
📙 Good friend of CQ, Annie Ditmeyer just released her new book: OVERRIDE: A pocket playbook for possibility. Go grab your copy!
🌱 We need to rewild the internet via Noema Mag
🐛 How to approach design like ecology via It’s Nice That
🔎 This essay on ‘research as leisure activity’ by
is so damn good and Questy I think it deserves it’s own follow up Quest Digest newsletter.😐 South Korea holds a ‘do nothing’ competition
👟 Runkwa are an organisation that collect used running trainers and donate them to young, talented underprivileged runners, helping them live a better life.
Finally…
I love hearing from readers in the comments, and always value feedback. What do you like most in The Quest Digest? What would you like to see more or less of?
If you enjoy I’d love it if you shared it with a friend or two; you can send them here to sign up.
Sam x
Quest Guide / Founder
@saaamfurness
THE QUEST DIGEST by Creative Quests is a treasure chest of ideas & stories exploring what it means to live an illuminating, creative life. Delivered when inspiration and creativity strike. Subscribe to receive each issue or send to a friend in need of a creative boost.
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