New experiences can take a wide variety of forms. They could involve your first love. It could be that you are embarking on your first solo backpacking adventure? Maybe it’s the first time you initiate a conversation with a stranger? They could take the form of skydiving or even bungee jumping. Perhaps you are volunteering for a charity for the first time?
It could even be the first time that you are working on a dairy farm milking cows. Yes, I did that during my time spent in New Zealand on a Working Holiday Visa for one year and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share a photo of my first dairy farm job. I found myself waking up at three in the morning to herd cows.
To say it was a new experience for me, is a total understatement. But, as the photo below shows, I was there, experiencing something new, learning a new skill and learning a lot about myself during my months spent living and working on a farm where you are pretty isolated from civilisation.
Lionel (My Singaporean friend) and I on our first day Milking Cows
You might find yourself in the position of experiencing something new due to a wide variety of reasons.
It might be a personal choice (as it was with me and dairy farming)? Perhaps you chose that new experience to overcome some fear?Perhaps you are just the type of person who thrives off experiencing something new?
It might be that you find yourself in that position as a result of a friend who made that decision for you.
You might even find yourself experiencing something new out of pure chance.
Regardless of the type of experience and the reason why you find yourself experiencing it, new experiences have one thing in common.
With each new experience you find yourself in unknown territory. You find yourself out of your comfort zone. This can be scary to those who are used to known territory. We as humans are creatures of habit. We find comfort in the predictable, in the safe. And things that break that habit can often be perceived as daunting.
However, the known whilst comfortable and predictable, is stagnant, lethargic and in many instances crippling (perhaps that’s an over exaggeration, but I am trying to make a point here). The unknown whilst unpredictable and often perceived as risky is exciting, dynamic and liberating.
It is in the new experiences (unknown) where personal growth occurs. It is in the unknown where you master a new skill. It is in the unknown where you realise that the fears you once felt were in most instances not justified; all you were afraid of was the unknown, not the experience itself. It is in the unknown where you realise how powerful and capable you are.It is in the unknown where new opportunities arise.
It is in the unknown where we open ourselves up to change. Open ourselves up to even more new experiences. Open ourselves to the beauty of life and everything it has to offer. Eventually we develop trust in the unknown, trust in the fact that each new experience will change us for the better because it is there where the magic happens.
YOUR THOUGHTS?
Are you planning on experiencing something new and getting out of your comfort zone?
