Add Some Spice to Your Life by Trying Something New

As students, we often get to feel like we’re making constant progress towards the ultimate goal of getting our degrees. This can be mentally and physically exhausting, but at least it creates a sense of bringing us closer and closer to success.

However, there can be days when we have no drive to push forward, when an inescapable feeling of pessimism grips onto us and refuses to let go. Frustration and melancholy keep us from accomplishing any of our goals, or even from beginning to sift through the piles of work that await us. When all of the creative centres of our brain simply turn off, it’s easy to get sucked into a bottomless pit of boredom.

This feeling sucks. I’ve experienced it multiple times, and each instance drained more out of me than the last. For some people this feeling can last hours, days, and even weeks or months.

That being said, there is a way to channel your feelings into productivity, and I’ll tell you how.

Try something different. Sounds cliché, right? But by “trying something different,” I mean trying something that you’ve never done before.

Recently, the teacher of my communications class was kind enough to take us to the Strawberry Hill Cinema for our last class of the semester. I was seriously considering going straight home when the time came, since I’m not much of a cinema guy. However, since I was near the theatre, I decided to go along just for the heck of it.

The movie we were seeing was called Us, a horror-thriller from director Jordan Peele. Now, some of us hate being scared, and yet we go see scary videos and movies once in a while anyway. Why would we experience something we personally wouldn’t normally want to see?

Because it’s out of the ordinary. It’s something that brings us out of our comfort zone and, as a result, expands it.

If your job or school requires you to spend a lot of time sitting down, getting up and moving around when possible can also count as trying something new. You might be surprised how exhilarating it can be to go on a hike. Not only are your legs getting one hell of a workout, but there are also beautiful views along the way. A change of scenery like this can be stress-relieving, even therapeutic, to the less athletic.

One such hiking spot that I visit regularly and find accessible is Watershed Park. Located near Kittson Parkway, it’s not far from Delview, and is a perfect place to catch a break from your studies.

Hell, even a trip to the shopping mall can come as a welcome break. Metrotown, located in Burnaby, is a great spot for trying something new. Even asking your friend out to the bar for a chat over beer and pub food can help.

In short, push yourself to try something you usually wouldn’t try. It has been said many times, but that won’t stop me from saying it again: variety is the spice of life!