“When we make the unfamiliar familiar, make the unknown known, make the uncomfortable comfortable, and believe the unbelievable, we can then expect the unexpected.”
-Charles F. Glassman
This month, we've decided to focus on the playlist and take a journey within the music. Most of the chosen music of June's playlist was unfamiliar to us on one level or another and it got us talking about stepping outside of our comfort zones to discover new things. We spend a lot of time doing things in our daily lives the same way every time - we take the same routes when we drive to familiar locations, complete our hygiene routines in the same order, and even approach our meals in roughly the same manner each time we eat.
How do we leave room for spontaneity? Even typing that sentence feels like a way to say, "How do we schedule spontaneity?" - which is not the intended meaning. At what point in our lives did we stop dropping everything for a spur-of-the-moment decision? Obviously, as we get older and more responsibilities come into play, that becomes harder...but is it impossible?
As we talked about how listening to this playlist made us feel, we both brought up how it evoked a whole feeling of an unexpected road trip - it took us back to our 20s when there were plenty of times we called our friends and said, "Let's get in the car and go"...and then we did. While that's become more difficult to put in practice with current responsibilities, we've decided it isn't necessarily impossible - and what better time to explore that journey than in the summer?
It's so easy to say no and make up excuses to keep us in our comfortable bubbles. What would happen if we were to say yes? Let's challenge ourselves this summer to change up our typical routines - take a spontaneous trip (even if it's local), take a class in something you've wanted to learn, or even just eat at a local restaurant you've never tried. Keep a list of all the new things you try over the summer and watch that list (and your world) grow. Each time we say yes, it gets easier to continue.
Embrace the initial discomfort and revel in the joy of the outcome.
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