3 Reasons why trying something new will change your life
It’s harder to sleep when you are 1,850 meters above sea level.
You have vivid dreams. You wake up with a sore throat. During the first few days, you slowly adjust, but you have to drink buckets of water and breath slowly, purposefully. It’s harder to move. Walking up stairs leaves you breathless and walking up a hill is like walking through treacle, heavy and laboured, slow and deliberate. But the world at 1850 meters is breathtaking and not just because of the oxygen adjustment.The world feels closer. The opposing mountains on the other side of the valley seem touchable. Yet the busy life and the day to day hustle of the villages and towns below seems so far away. So removed from the isolated world, on top of the hill.A few years ago I lived in France, nestled high in the Tarentaise Valley. I spent a season of my life working in a ski resort and it probably changed my life.
I used to start work before the sunrose, six days a week. I'd set up breakfast, laying tables, making coffee and preparing a busy restaurant for service. I didn’t know it then (or I did, but not to the extent I do now), how beautiful and how special the gift of watching the sunrise up between the snow-covered mountains was. A gift I was given every day. The colours slowly filled the sky, floating across the widows, pushed by the cold mountain breeze. Every single sunrise was different, somehow becoming even more beautiful than the last. I saw the seasons change within the sunrise, from winter to spring, from spring to summer. How often do we get up early enough to see the sunrise? How often do we give ourselves the gift of watching a new day start slowly, purposefully?
I'd never skied before and I hated snow.
Looking up at the mountain from my safe space at the bottom, both feet firmly planted, I honestly didn't believe it would ever be possible for me to learn how to ski. To learn how to propel myself down a steep slope and tuck in to gain as much speed as possible. I prefered the solid the ground.But I didn't really have a choice. Learning to ski was part and parcel of the season and with a single lesson, a lot of tears and tantrums, I soon found myself launching from lift to powder and from powder to blue, red and black. I felt my strength grow and I put into practice the idea the everything seems impossible until it's done. I conquered fear, I learnt a new skill bit by bit. Day by day. Tantrum after tear. Bite after bite. I broke it down.When was the last time you did something for the first time? When did you try something new? When did you last step out of your comfort zone into the danger zone? The risk zone? When did you last attempt the 'black ski run'?
Trying something new is indefinitely terrifying.
There is the chance we could fail, even hurt ourselves or worse, somebody else. There is a chance we might look silly as we learn. We might make mistakes. But there is also the chance that we might succeed. That you might learn a new skill or discover a new passion. You could start a whole new chapter, tell a whole new story with your life.
3 Reasons why trying something new will change your life
- You will meet new people. The people you spend your time with will determine who you are, trying something new opens your world up to a whole new group of people. People different from you. People who are also learning something new. People who can teach you. Surround yourself with people who believe in your limitless potential, it will change your life.
- You will start telling a new story with your life. You can change the course of your life by starting something new today. By opening up a new chapter and filling the pages with new adventures. It doesn't have to be big. It can be small. We all know the small things are what make life big. But you will change your life through small daily changes, such as starting running, writing or reading - just try something new.
- You will realise the impossible can be made possible and that's life-changing. The thing you thought you could never do, if you break it down, you can make it happen. As they say, small chunks to eat the elephant one bite at a time. And if you can make the impossible possible, what else can you do? What could you do next? What a big life you will be living. Possibilities create more possibilities and I can't wait to see where you end up.
Let me know what new things you've started or how you've changed your life by starting new habits. I'd love to hear all about it!Did you like this post? Sign up to my weekly letter to get stories and prompts to help you live a life worth writing about.