Happy New Year! It's been quite some time since I blogged, but I decided to come back and see if it still suited me.
Last week, on December 29th to be exact, I decided to try something different to celebrate my birthday. I decided that for the seven days following it I would do something I really wanted to do or have always wanted to do, or go someplace I have never gone before. I made a conscious effort to achieve this goal (okay a few days I was completely stretching to check off something new that I had done...but those days usually started with a plan that eventually went awry). What did I do you ask? Well it ranged from going to a dive of a diner near my house (which I will probably never enter again, but the food was decent), to spending a holiday in a new place with new people, to having a mother-daughter movie date with just the two of us for the first time ever : ) Now having done it, I must say that it felt really good. Actually I enjoyed the prospect of doing something new so much I think I will extend it throughout the entire year. So every day this year that I am off from work, I will try something new!
Now I don't want you to think that I was closed off to new experiences before. Really, I just found that I haven't been giving myself a chance to do the things I long to do. And considering the fact that I spend so much time working and taking care of whatever other responsibilities I have on my plate, when I have free time I want to maximize my enjoyment of that time. Now that does not mean that I won't sometimes just lay around and read a book, watch television or go to the mall, because I certainly do all of that. It just means that I like having the opportunity to do something out of the ordinary, even if it's just eating somewhere different.
I read a post on facebook a few months back which said that researchers found the key to people's happiness was having new experiences. That struck a chord with me because I know how often I think of the paths I haven't traveled, the places I haven't been. There's always that place I see and I say "Ohhh, I've always wanted to go there, oooh I've always wanted to try that", and for whatever reason it just never seems to happen. And thinking about it won't get me there, only stepping outside of the realm of if only, what if, I wish, and why didn't I, only that will get me there. Instead of just passing by that place that looks so inviting, I'm going to turn around and walk in. There is a new adventure around every corner and I can enjoy every one of them if I allow myself to take advantage of time and opportunity.
