Venturing Out

As time passes, people like doing the same things at the same time all the time…

At one time I hung out with people that were a lot like me.  We were in the same business, lived lives that were prescribed according to convention. .  We did much the same things, celebrated the same holidays, looked the same, and were following a path prescribed by occupation.

More recently I have found that venturing out is a more rewarding and fruitful path.  The idea of doing the same things over and over while comfortable is not a learning experience. 

Many years ago, I shared a carpool with a friend who worked at a competing firm.  We traded weeks to determine who drove.  On his week he took the same route day after day.  On my week I took a different route every day.  I did it to piss him off.  It achieved that goal but for me it underscored the importance of taking a different path when you have already experience a known path.

The same restaurant, the same bar, the same vacation …there is no sense of adventure and definitely no learning.  It does seem that as we age we are resistant to change.  Rather than becoming more risk adverse I suggest we be more willing to take risk.  I don’t mean bungee jumping or jumping out of airplanes, although if you want you should.

The idea of becoming more interested and therefore becoming more interesting is a better goal than taking less risk and becoming more comfortable. Put yourself in situations that require you to adapt and learn. Maybe risky and even a little scary.

A better objective than comfortable and familiar and a lot more fun.

Time is not on your side…..