Trying something new

The thought of trying something new can be freaky, scary. The unknown, the potential pitfalls, the risk. What about not doing it? not jumping in? what about staying safe? secure?

The thing is though, we always try something new in our lives. Every day is a new adventure, a new beginning. So we do have the aptitude to do it. But perhaps when we never notice we are making the choice.

Take for example, the small new changes I have been doing - really small. Like the fact that I have extended my variety of self cooked meals to now include nasi goreng (yes, cooked with the pre-mix my father sent over from home, but I still cooked the damn thing with prawns and vegetables and eggs), beautifully grilled goat cheese sandwich drizzled with honey and cashewnuts and rocket, and even nasi lemak! which I finally got right after two tries and a burnt pot and congealed coconut milk rice later.

Then there were slightly bigger changes, like my most recent trip to Vienna. It was officially my first solo trip out. There have always been times when Im travelling alone, but this would still involve work, so it doesnt count for much since the company arranges everything and I still have colleagues to be connected with. But Vienna was my first ever truly solo trip. And what happened? I was introduced by a friend to a contact who introduced me to another contact to another girl. And said girl invited me over to join her for a dance training the day before the ball. We all were just open, and honest with each other and I ended up leaving Vienna with five pretty good friends that I would love to meet up with anywhere else in the world.

There are of course, the big changes. The ones that always hog the 'Highlighted story first' on a Facebook newsfeed. They are the ones where people get engaged, get married, have a baby... theyre also the ones where people leave their jobs, move countries. And somehow, with all the changes in our lives, these are the ones that scare us the most. Maybe because it is so much higher in the sky that we think the distance is really all that far. People think that to go through a year of change, or a life of change, is to do exactly this. Perhaps move away, perhaps start over.

The truth of the matter is, change really does come within. When I embarked on my year of change, I didnt really force myself to go ahead and plan all the crazy things, or to do all the crazy things. What really did change was my attitute towards life. My desire to try and see and appreciate things differently. Even if the only way I could start doing it was by blogging about doing different things on weekends. Even if the only way I can do is to start cooking a new dish every week, read a new book every two weeks. It is the little challenges in life that really gets you moving. When I ran the half marathon, I didnt wake up one day and said hey Im going to run a half marathon. I started slow, running around the park. I realized I enjoyed it, so I ran a bit more. The next thing I knew I was running a 10k. The next thing I knew I thought, hey I think I can go a little bit further than this.

So, thats the biggest lesson I took away from last year's Year of Change. I knew I could tick off the different things that I had done as a way to really measure the distance and milestones I had put between my previous self and my new life. But the thing is... at the end of the day, what really changed was me. I am seeking out beauty and happiness and appreciation in everything around me. Waking up and breathing the fresh air, cycling to work and remembering my childhood. Passing the European buildings and canals and reminding myself that this too is transient, that this too will pass. Everything else, just seems to fall into place once youre ready.