Should we try new things or follow the same mundane routine?
Tags: Skills Development, Extra Curricular Activity, Education

Should we try new things or follow the same mundane routine? LearnBowl Apr 25·3 min read

Brace yourselves for an existential revelation.

We would still be subsiding on roots, Learnbowl shoots & flesh if our fellow ancestor never wondered whether the luscious fruit that grew out of the seeds, he so callously scattered was edible or not. We would have never made the transition to houses from caves, to mink & muslin from leaves and to Jet planes from the bullock carts of old. People would not have thrived; villages & towns would not have developed and civilization would have remained stuck in limbo. In other words, we would just be where we were millennia ago, void of any progress and encumbered by stagnation — all because we did not try something ‘new’.

Taking a broader perspective, we would have been missing so much that life has to offer. However, one must concur with the fact that necessity is the mother of invention. Man discovered fire because he needed to oust the other predators. He settled down because farming was more convenient than roaming endlessly in a dangerous world. Now how do we possibly estimate that a person has reached the crossroads wherein he/she must do something ‘new’ to tread further on life’s beneficial path?

It is not as difficult as it sounds. Thankfully, we humans are not built to last in inactivity. A complex handiwork of God or nature, we are inherent explorers. Our ‘hugr’ (mind & spirit in the Norse tongue) is a constant wanderer, employing its own methods like that of curiosity to push us onto something ‘new’. Aristotle; Caesar; Copernicus; Columbus; da Vinci; Joan of Arc and even Robespierre amongst innumerable others were driven by this ‘curiosity, which ultimately fueled their path-breaking actions. Some have classified this drive as ambition, and even heresy in some cases; which unfortunately ended at the chopping block or at the sharp end of a concoctor’s knife.

These examples bear ample testament to the fact that while humans are inherently driven pioneers, they must overcome the inertia barrier before they embark towards something new. This calls for an immense struggle on both fronts — interpersonal and intrapersonal. One can convince their own person, but to convince the world that the path one seeks is a potential pursuit and not a fool’s folly is a herculean task. Doing something ‘new’ entails a certain deviancy, an often unwelcomed off-shoot from the status quo. Considering the rigidity in mankind’s history, all sorts of ‘censors’ were applied to tame the human thought. Today, you can rightfully say that the Earth is round and is not at the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, you would have been executed, impaled, or burnt at the stake under the charges of heresy & blasphemy.

Sure, doing something new is difficult. And we must have scared you a bit. But fret not, you need not begin with world-shaking innovations. Start with something simple and different, something that you do not ‘routinely’ do. For instance, make your own bed. Go help your mother in the kitchen. See that movie that has been eating the dust in your watch-list since time immemorial. Learn that skill which you always wanted to. Ask that girl out. Live today ‘differently,’ and years later when you are reminiscent, you shall recall that it all started on that day. But in the journey from today to that day, heed a former cave-dweller (both literally & symbolically) Grug’s advice:

Never be afraid!