Try something new

Does the thought of doing a new thing scare you? Are you too comfortable with how things are? A few days ago I would have answered "no" to all these questions. I tend to see myself as a risk-taker and someone who is always looking for something new to try out and willing to embrace change.

That was until a simple visit to a supermarket changed my perception about my ability to accept change. I noticed, as I went through the isles picking the items that were on my shopping list, that I was looking for the same things I had always bought month after month. In-fact I hardly considered buying anything else. If I had to buy tea then it had to be brand x and not y because that is what I had always bought.

Once this occurred to me I started thinking about other similar things that I might have been doing. For instance I realised every visit to the barber was to get the same haircut I had last month, and the month before that. Then there was the "Bronx" shoe that I always bought whenever I needed a pair of shoes. How about wearing the same deodorant year after year? Or buying the same magazine month after month? Then there's eating the same food whenever you go out?

I stopped my trolley. I don't know for how long. I stared directly in front of me. I was stunned at how routine, unexciting and predictable things had become. In an effort to reverse this whole trend I turned around and put back many of the items I had put in the trolley and exchanged them for different brands.

I thought to myself how such habits of always wanting the familiar and seemingly secure could be affecting other areas of my life. It could be my marriage, work, business or anything else. The shopping habits probably just offered a glimpse of what could be happening elsewhere.

I thought how many businesses have gone bankrupt because they were unwilling to change and adapt to new technology or new innovations in their industry. Countless. How many marriages have ended in frustration because one or both spouses became so boring and predictable that all the romance and fun was sucked out of the marriage? Countless. How many workers have been made redundant by an inability to get new skills and knowledge? Countless.