Get Outside Of Your Comfort Zone
At some point, we all reach an age where comfort becomes enticingly, well… comfortable. You know the feeling—you get an invite to something new, something mildly outside your routine, and your first thought isn’t, That sounds fun! It’s, Do I feel like it today?
This is how it starts. First, you start saying no to last-minute plans. Then, you refuse to try the new restaurant because it’ll be “too busy.” Next thing you know, you’re the person complaining about the music being too loud at a restaurant that you picked. Congratulations, you’re aging from the inside out.
We need to remind ourselves, staying young isn’t about the number of candles on your cake. It’s about keeping that spark—the curiosity, the openness, the ability to jump into something without overthinking it to death. It’s about resisting the urge to become someone who only experiences life from the safety of routine, once in a while.
The Case for Saying Yes
Remember when you were a kid and everything was new? You didn’t question whether you’d be good at something; you just tried it. You ate weird foods, climbed things you shouldn’t, said yes to games even if you didn’t know the rules. Somewhere along the way, we lost that. We got self-conscious. We started fearing embarrassment, failure, and minor inconveniences.
But I’m reminding myself: most of the best moments in life start with mild discomfort. The first time you tried ox tongue. That last-minute trip you almost didn’t go on. The conversation with a stranger that somehow changed your travel plans in Sweden. If you only ever do what’s familiar, you rob yourself of the weird, surprising, and unexpectedly joyful moments that make life interesting.
Breaking Out of Routine (Without Breaking a Hip)
Now, I’m not saying you have to go bungee jumping tomorrow. Staying young inside isn’t about forcing yourself into extreme experiences; it’s about resisting the slow, creeping rigidity that tries to take over as we get older.
• Eat something you’ve never tried before. Maybe you hate it. Maybe it’s your new favorite thing. Either way, you did it.
• Talk to someone outside your usual circle. The world is filled with interesting people, but we tend to stick with the ones we already know.
• Learn something random. A new language, a dance move, how to juggle. Your brain will thank you.
• Say yes to things that make you slightly nervous. If it doesn’t work out? It’s a great story. If it does? Even better.
The Bottom Line? Keep Moving.
Aging isn’t a choice, but how you age is. You can become the person who stops trying new things, who turns down experiences out of habit, who lets the world shrink around them. Or you can decide that staying open, curious, and a little ridiculous is the real secret to youth.
