When you hear the phrase ‘try something new’ do you think of jumping out of a plane or learning to ski? Big things. That’s what it means…right? Wrong! Yes, some new things you try can be scary. But it doesn’t have to be big to be something new.
Over the years, I’ve tried many new things that were scary like hiking mountains, flying solo to a yoga conference, learning to downhill ski and others. But I’ve also tried many ‘smaller’ things that were new like going for a float, learning new styles of yoga, eating in new restaurants and reading new book genres.
And yes! Reading a new genre of book counts as something new. It’s a small change, but it counts. New things, new changes don’t have to be dramatic all the time. That would be exhausting.
Why Try New Things
Trying new things gets you unstuck. Gets you out of a rut. It stimulates your creativity and depending on what you learn can make your more marketable. Whether that’s in the workplace or in your personal life is up to you.
Trying something new can increase your confidence. Now I know you won’t believe that while you’re learning how to ski and keep falling down all the time. But once you get better at it you’ll feel great! And your confidence grows. Plus, who wants to live with the regret of not trying something?
Figure Out What To Try
If you want to try something new, it’s often good to have a list of things to try. Sure, something might come up that sounds intriguing and you need to do it right away, but it’s also good to know what you’d like to do. For this exercise, you’ll need paper, pen, and 3 different highlighters plus a timer.
Give yourself twenty minutes and just write down every idea you have of things you want to try. Big or small. Want to try that new restaurant or go to a movie alone? Write it down? Learn how to water ski? Write it down. Just keep going with the list for twenty minutes writing out everything that you can think of even if it sounds silly to you.
Now that you have a list (hopefully, a really long list,) pull out your highlighters. It’s time to separate the list into Easy, Medium and Hard. First, go through the list and look for all the easy things. These are the items that don’t take a lot of preparation or time. Trying a new book genre, finding a new route to drive to work, going for a picnic in the park, learning how to play a new game.
Once done with finding all of the easy items, now it’s time to find all those of medium difficulty. These are the items that might include getting other people together or might require a larger time commitment or might even require saving a bit more money in order to do it. On this list, you include things like planning a dinner party, taking an online training that doesn’t have a strict timeline, going to the closest city to watch a show or visit a museum.
And then finally, the harder items. These items will probably need some extra training in order to do them or even a lot more money. Put in here those instances where you want to learn to ski or scuba dive, want to go to an out of state conference or training session or taking a college class that has a specific timeline to meet.
What’s Next?
What’s next? You go out and do something. Anything. If you’ve been stuck in a rut then maybe you grab an idea from the easy list. It allows you to get your feet wet with trying something new without you having to spend a lot of money or time on it.
If you still need some ideas of what to try, then below are some posts with suggestions on new things including ones that I’ve done. I’d love to know what new thing you tried this week.
How To check Something Off Your Bucket List
It Was So Easy It Surprised Me
Hi Jennifer, I’m new to following you and I adore your “how to” focus!! This year I’ve been doing “52 new things” and found most of them were in your easy/medium range. I love how you gave examples too… planning a dinner party is actually something new I need to add to my list.
I borrowed the idea from Joanne at My Life Lived Full. here’s my post as well.
https://retirementtransition.wordpress.com/2018/06/04/soar-activation-52-new-things/
Tracking it for the year made me also open to new possibilities when they appeared. I’ve continued to track and actually have over 70 things on my list this year, well past the 52 (one a week).
I’m so glad you stopped by Pat. I was checking out your post and pretty impressed with the number of new things you’ve tried. Once you’ve had a dinner party, I challenge you to try a Progressive Dinner Pary. You’ll need some friends and neighbors to get this one off the ground, so I consider it a medium to hard because of the logistics of getting the other people to participate. In a Progressive Dinner, each different course is put on by a different host/hostess. So you have to move from home to home. If you live on a cul-de-sac or in a condo it probably would make this easier than if you had to drive all over town.
Progressive dinner party would be a challenge as we are new to the neighborhood and just starting to meet neighbors. I did ask our next-door neighbors over for the dinner party I’m planning but they have a previous engagement. I’m still hoping to get to know them better. Most of our friends are all over town…we pick restaurants all over to meet so no one is the one always driving 20 miles. I’m thinking a few small dinner parties this year will be a good goal for something new.
revisiting form MLSTL!
I hope you have fun with your dinner parties!
I’ve always believed that the hardest thing is the first step – to put yourself out there in a new situation with new people you have never met. But you never know the rewards that may follow if you do! I putting myself out there this week running a workshop for women artists showing them how to photograph their works for the internet in a little town I’ve only ever been to driven by my husband. This time I am driving myself. Scary and exciting all at the same time. Have a fabulous week. I’ve come to you today from Jo’s Lifestyle Fifty page. Lovely to meet you.
Thanks for stopping by Jill. And congratulations on stepping up and running that workshop. I’m sure all those women artists are grateful someone is going to show them how to share their work on the internet! But I bet the drive into town is probably the scariest step.
I’m not the bravest soul when it comes to trying new things – but I dipped my toe in the water this year by taking up Tai Chi – going by myself to a class full of strangers was way out of my comfort zone, but they were friendly and welcoming and encouraging as I struggle to get my arms and legs in the right position at the right time. There’s lots of expensive things I’d like to do too but they might have to wait a bit longer I’m afraid.
I’ve been reading about your Tai Chi adventures! Isn’t it funny how we psyche ourselves out about a situation before we even get there? Once we’re there, though, everything is great!
Hi Jennifer – yes you’re absolutely right in that I do tend to psyche myself out over things and then regret missing out later. I’m so glad I took the plunge (even if part of me was balking at becoming a “senior citizen” in the process!)
Thanks for linking up with us at #MLSTL and I’ve shared this on my SM 🙂
I love the #MLSTL link up. I’m meeting a lot of new midlife bloggers, so thanks to you and Sue for creating it.
It reminds me of the quote from my recent blog post: “People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.” Because something new is scary for most of us. Yet I love how you separate them into categories.
And starting with the easy things makes us braver to try the harder ones!! Like shopping…LOL!
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Thanks for stopping by Jodie! A new thing is a new thing no matter how big or small. And yes lots of small things build up your courage so you can try the bigger ones.
Positive post. I’ve reached the point in my life where I think I’ve tried everything I want to, (except moving to the countryside but that’s a bit impractical right now) so all that remains is visiting other countries. But I really need to challenge myself because there is so much life left and I am in a bit of a rut. You have certainly given me a few pointers and I love the list idea. There were things in my youth I wanted to do but have dismissed them now – maybe they need to go back on the list!
I love it. Yes, put them back in the list. And remember trying new things doesn’t have to be big. Small things count too as long as it’s something you’ve not done before.
Love this post! I’ve been challenging myself to do/learn things this summer that increase my self-sufficiency and independence. The thing I am most proud of is my “zen garden” that I call my PLG (Pretty Little Garden). Thanks for all the inspiration!
A zen garden? That’s great. I love that you’re taking on new challenges to increase your self sufficiency.
Great points! i love to try new things. TFS!
Hi Jennifer, another great post thank you! It is always a pleasure to see you link up at #MLSTL. I wrote this week about Comfort Zones and I think people get hung up on making it bigger than it needs to be. You are so right that we can experience even small things which can be new and exciting. Learning or gaining pleasure from the experience is the most important part. Have a great week!
I know it is sad but at this moment in time, I can think of nothing new I want to try. It will take some work to think of a few small things. I like the idea of this though.
Sometimes, the hurdle is getting started. I have procrastinated in the past and then wondered what I was afraid of. 🙂 (Learning how to use a PC, for example.) The newest thing on tap right now is an extended cruise of the Meditteranean and Adriatic in Sept. Exciting, but also a bit daunting! Crossing five places off the bucket list, though. 😀
That’s exciting 5 bucket list items at once? Last year, I took my first cruise and it was just from Miami to Cuba and the Bahamas. So I was able to cross a couple of bucket list items off all in one trip.