Go outside your comfort zone
once in a while to slow aging
Minh Tan
Trying new things we’re not familiar to not only keeps life interesting, it keeps our brains more active, especially areas not often used that get “lazy” and literally die off. The brain change is well known neurological advice (that is, from a physical perspective, not psychological or “thinking” it). Doing things using familiar skills as you age (i.e. sudoku) isn’t going to help you stay young as much as doing something rather different than anything you’ve been used to (i.e. play a musical instrument if you’ve never played, or a completely different one like horn to violin, if you have).
What I’m suggesting here, though, is doing something new by choice, not negative things life sometimes throws on us. However, you can still take the latter to try to make the best of it, as well as see the positives in it, and that will help you slow aging, too!
Either way, doing something you’re not comfortable with and being able to handle it, especially something with adversity, will also build character.
Finally, as for “once in a while”, I tend to go once a season or a few times a year myself. If they were little, short experiences, though, I’d try new things a bit more often than that. After all, not everything you try is going to stick. Sometimes, just knowing to know you don’t like it is enough for that experience. But for this quote, try to find something that sticks over at least a month, I’d say, if not forever in your life. Those are the gems. You’ll never find them, though, if you don’t try things, and try things you don’t like to find the ones you do. Just like a lottery as with so many things in life.
Digital Citizen 