52 Acts of Courage

Courtesy: losethattyre.co.uk

Someone once said “A rut is just a coffin with ends knocked out.”

It’s so easy to fall into a rut and get stuck doing the same thing over and over again, particularly with the busyness of life and the overload of decision we have to make each day. I’m suspicious that many of us stick to our routines and ruts also due to fear. We don’t like to admit that we always order chicken schnitzel because we’re scared to try something else, just in case we don’t like it. We are more likely to tell ourselves it’s because it’s cheaper or we like the chips that come with it. Yet we are very quick to reject other options. Food is just one of the many ruts we get into.

About six years ago I set myself a New Year’s Resolution designed to get me out of a rut. The resolution was simply to do one new thing every week for the whole year. They didn’t have to be big things. In fact, most ended up being small, simple things but they got me out my rut. So what did I do? Here’s a few:

Go to a different shopping centres I’d never been to before for both groceries and other goods.
Go into those cafe’s I usually passed on my way to my favourite.
Ask the waiter what the most popular thing on a menu and order that.
Read books and listen to music outside my usual genre.
Took a camel ride.
Cook from new recipes.
Visit local tourist spots I’d never been to.
Take different routes to work.
Wear different colours.

It wasn’t about how difficult or scary the new thing was. It was about getting out of the rut. I also learnt that by trying new, little things, it developed courage in me to try bigger things. In one year I did 52 small acts of courage, one week at a time.

Over the years I’ve kept up the adventure of trying new things in my life. It makes life more interesting and fun, while keeping my courage level up. My friends often hear me saying “I’ll get whatever you’re ordering for dinner” in my endeavour to expand my food experiences. This year I’ve tried more new things in starting my blog and guest posting.

Question: When did you last do something new or different? How did it make you feel?