Because of all of these things my days are usually easier. I am a production manager who watches over approximately 40 employees and am constantly bombarded with questions and problems to solve. I find if I can't make good use of my time, I end up working late. If I am organized and consistent I am usually out of work on time. We start our shift at 6:00am, so I am there at 5:30 to unlock the doors. This means I leave my house just shortly after 5am. There is no time to be wandering around saying "Where did I leave those keys last night!". No one is awake yet to help me look and people are depending on me being at work on time. It is this sort of responsibility and predictability that has landed me in my current role and don't get me wrong I love it. But all day after reading that quote, all I could think of was "try something new".
This is similar to something I tell my 5 year old son on a regular basis "You always have to try at least one time before you decide that you don't like something". It is something that I seem to have forgotten in my adult life. We get into our daily routines. Same route to work each day. Same coffee and muffin for breakfast. Same parking spot at work. Sit in the same chair at lunch. It is Tuesday.... Pizza for dinner tonight. I am so predictable as I am sure many of you are also.
Me and my wife often host international students who are studying ESL at the local college. Currently we have a young student who is from Vietnam staying with us and she has only been here for a couple of days. With my brain telling me to "try something new" I decided to look up to see if there were any Vietnamese restaurants in our area. To my great surprise there was one just down the road from us. I had a talk with her and asked if she would be interested in going out for dinner tonight. She obviously agreed and we jumped into the van and headed on down to Thuan Kieu.
As far as I know, I have never eaten Vietnamese food in the past. So looking at the menu I had no idea what to order. As I was browsing I was noticing a few familiar dishes that I would have been comfortable ordering (Pad Thai for example). As I kept looking at items that were not exactly Vietnamese, I looked up and told Chau to pick something out for me. She gave me a smile and said "Do you like spicy?". The answer to that question was obviously "Yes". She pointed out a dish that she had eaten in Hanoi which is the capital of Vietnam. She said that is was very good but too spicy for her.
This dish did not look like something that I would ever have given a second glance at on the menu. It was some sort of noodle stew for the best that I can describe. "Try something new, try something new, try something new..." I ordered it. I also let her order an appetizer.
As I waited for our dishes, I was extremely nervous and I don't even know why. What if it was crazy spicy and I cant finish it, what if it is disgusting, what if it makes me sick. This train of thought was unjustified. If I didn't like it I could easily just not have eaten it. When it was finally served to our table, this is what it looked like:
and the verdict was DELICIOUS!
It was spicy but extremely flavorful. Spicy enough to make me drink a glass and a half of water while eating it but not spicy enough to make me want to stop.
So I throw this out to all of you. Break out of your routine and try something different today. It could be big, it could be small, but take a step outside of your comfort zone. You never know what you will learn about yourself.
I couldn't find online anyone who is credited with the quote "try something new everyday" but I did find the below quote that has a similar message:
“I realized something on the ride. I realized if I wait until I'm not scared to try new things, then I'll never get to try them at all.”
― Marie Sexton, Between Sinners and Saints
Darryl (
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