At what point do we stop having first experiences? When do we avoid anything new because it’s safe or comfortable?
Last week I had 3 different first-time experiences. All by choice, I feel I should add. I made these plans and kept all of them. All 3 are distinctively different, each with a different result.
Before each experience, I felt that twang of fear. That sensation pulling me toward the familiar. If I don’t go through any of these new experiences, I get to stay in the safety of knowing who I am. Kicking the can of opportunity down the road delaying who I could be on the other side. Justifying the fear by renaming it ‘safety’.
Leaning on the crutch of my current comfort doesn’t allow me the space to grow and be an evolved person. It also prevents me from having a conversation from experience-thus relying on the experience of others to inform me. And that may work for a while, at some point my narrative is no longer my own but a series of reviews or opinions of others. And then I become exactly what I fear-stagnant. My value is no longer my own because I no longer contribute to society by participating in it. I’d be more valuable wearing heavily logoed clothing and walking around public spaces. Funny how we pay to do that instead of getting paid to.
So, I compromise and exchange the twang of the unknown as a small price for evolution of self. Does it always work? No, I am human and thus fallible, but most of the time, the new experience is a sweet truffle along the way that I get to enjoy each time I think or speak of it.
What new experience are you putting off?
~C