The adventure of trying something new
You can listen to the audio version of this post below.
This is a part of the October 2020 blog challenge. You can find the other posts here.
Last week, I wrote about first times, and I spoke about the vulnerability of trying something for the first time, and I wrote about channeling the wonder I find in baking into other firsts in my life. One of my rules of firsts is treat it as an experiment.
“Experimentation -This is my favourite rule of firsts. It allows me to bring that sense of wonder to the task, and to think of the outcome not as a fixed target but instead as something experimental that can be tweaked, changed (or tossed out!) if need be. It reminds me that just as things change, I can continue to bring changes into the process and hopefully make it more of what I want it to be. It is a reminder to me that I can start again.”
Today I want to talk about one of the benefits of deliberate change, and taking the experimental approach. There can be magic in trying something new, and it has been responsible for one of my biggest adventures thus far.
I always enjoyed reading and writing from the time I was a child and teenager. I wrote a bit about this a few days ago, in Books that changed my childhood. I loved getting lost in a book of fiction or fantasy, and I also imagined myself being a writer of those stories. Stories of worlds created in my mind, of epic adventures, of the triumph of good over evil.
In contrast, I always thought of non-fiction as boring - newspapers, magazines, history books and memoirs, and I had no desire to write any of them. I barely wanted to read any of them.
As I got older, I tried my hand at writing stories and books. Even now, I can remember some of the ideas I had for stories - for children and adults. I even started writing some of them. It is entirely possible that I gave up too soon, or that those stories were not meant to be written yet. Whatever the reason, those stories remained unfinished, and I gave up on my dreams of writing a book (or books).
As the years went by, I learned a lot, and one surprise in my life was developing a love for reading non-fiction. Perhaps it was the discovery that there could be as much truth in fiction as there is in newspapers, magazines and history books (and that there could also be a bit of made up stuff in both!) I realized that stories - even the ones from trusted sources that we consider to be “fact” are based on the perspective of the writer, editor and publisher, as well as on the knowledge they have at the time, the lens they want to put on it, and sometimes even the tools that we have to measure.
But I also realized that non-fiction could also be instructional, and true stories could be interesting - even exciting!
In addition, I started traveling, and this also caused me to be fascinated with true stories - of what it was like to live in other countries, of how other people view the world, and how my own perspective changed as a result of visiting. As I travelled, I would write letters to my friends and family telling them about my experiences, about the places I visited, the culture and the people I met.
Another pleasant surprise; I absolutely loved writing true stories. It was something I could never have seen coming, and I am sure that if you told a younger version of myself that I would be writing creative non-fiction, and loving it, I would have laughed in your face.
But here I am doing it. The non-fiction experiment led to this blog and to my first book. And in a twist of fate, writing my first non-fiction book gave me the courage to finally complete my first fiction book.
Some time ago, I was in a writing class, and the instructor said that if he could leave us with one piece of advice, it would be to try all sorts of writing. You can’t know what you will enjoy unless you try stuff.
And this is the truth about experimenting. You could discover an amazing new hobby, a favourite food, even your next career. The truth is, trying new things can take you on a whole new adventure. There is the aspect of first timer vulnerability, but if you can get past that, there are so many adventures that are possible when you try new things. And remember - it is just an experiment! If you really don’t enjoy it, then you don’t have to continue doing it!
When is the last time that an experiment turned into an adventure for you? When a new pursuit turned into a hobby or passion? And tell me - what is one new thing that you have been longing to try? I dare you to try the smallest version of it, and see where it takes you!
And I send you big love from a small island.
PS - The beautiful lion photo was taken when I was on another adventure years ago - on safari in Tanzania.