Breaking the Routine, Doing Something New and Feeling Nice About It

Many times we want to somehow start breaking the routine that has come into our life.

If you are an office-employee, you might be habituated to getting up, traveling to work, rushing to your workplace, talking to co-workers during lunchtime, traveling back home after office hours, watching TV and more TV, having a chat with your wife and going to sleep. In fact no matter what you are doing, it is so easy to get stuck in a repeat-repeat cycle doing the same things all over again everyday.

In such situations, have you ever wondered - what could be new today? How could I be breaking the routine today? No, not the same thing all over again…

(Src-Microsoft Office) When was the last time you watched the sun rise? Doing something new feels good.

One fantastic way to make life more refreshing that I tried out and that worked very well for me - was:

Committing to have ONE new experience a day.

I mean there are so many things that we just keep doing out of habit - why not do one thing that is new to us throughout the span of the day? Anything that is just NOT normal - NOT compulsory, NOT on auto-pilot?

It need not be tight rope walking or paragliding (though that is cool too :)), but how about having something completely radical and new for lunch today like a salad? Or walking along a different path and observing all that’s on the way - as you go and catch a train or bus? Or just saying “hi” to the guy sitting next to you in the grocery line - for no reason at all and learning about his life for a change?

Breaking the routine in favor of one new experience a day - anything you have NEVER done before. Just for fun. :)

Why Try Breaking the Routine at All?

The one simple advantage of seeking out one new experience a day is that it feels so good! Any never before experience - where we go out of the way to do something we like, like appreciating the nice checked shirt a stranger is wearing, can suddenly make life more exciting and even meaningful. Maybe stepping out of our comfort zone has something magical about it. One day, when I was feeling um-trying-to-feel-okay-um after having just lost my cell phone, I saw a wrapper lying in my train. I thought - “I’m getting down anyway, and I’ll find a dustbin nearby anyway! So why not pick it up and throw it when I get down?” I did it. And suddenly I felt very pleased and happy.

Why not feel good today by trying something new out?

Then of course you might actually discover something worthwhile trying something new out. “Rasna” is a mango drink powder sold in India. One day, in my oat meal, I poured Rasna instead of sugar - just for the sake of trying it out. It tasted fantastic. I would any day prefer having my oatmeal with Rasna now. So the “new” experience turned out to be a pathway for more enjoyment and satisfaction. Any new experience will teach us something about life we don’t know. As children we learnt so many new things everyday from rhymes to walking to talking to reading. Why not continue learning by trying out one new thing however small it is everyday?

Consciously choosing a new experience everyday is also a portal for stretching yourself that one bit, and growing that one bit more. I once went to enquire about club details at Georgia Tech. After the young woman at the counter had told me all the details, and just before I was going to depart, I looked at her name tag and said - thank you Stephanie! For me back then, addressing a stranger by name by reading her name tag was a new experience - I had never done it before. But I felt nice and I guess Stephanie felt nice too. And I had stretched myself just that tiny bit out of my comfort zone and grown to more than what I had been a moment ago. Why not stretch your limits just a little by having a new experience?

Some Interesting Breaking-the-Routine/New Experience Ideas

* Making your own interesting meal today by looking up the recipe on the internet.

* While you are walking in a crowded area with so, so many people walking with you - just standing still for a while and observing the others walk, the expressions on their faces and your surroundings.

* Jogging around to a nearby place instead of walking upto it!

* Buying yourself a chocolate for no reason at all, and enjoying eating it in the shade of a tree while looking around and savoring your surroundings.

* Not drinking coffee if you drink it daily - drinking juice instead!

* Giving a beggar something to eat

* Calling a friend you have not called in centuries.

* Not reacting when someone shouts at you.

Try Breaking the Routine

So are you emailing your favorite college professor today? Or are you sending your mom a post card? Or are you writing out a comment here, because you have never written one before! :)

Breaking the routine and having a new experience, can be fun. :)

Related Stuff

How to do uninteresting work if you know why you are doing it

How to get back on track when you are STUCK in a rut

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