How To Live A More Interesting Life

I have this friend whom I love dearly and is nothing like me. I tend to gravitate toward people who are living lives that I would love to be living, at least a little bit. She is one of those people who has a new adventure planned every weekend and has changed careers mid-life. She always seems to 'fall into' random experiences and has the most awesome stories. She embraces life daily and does not apologize for it. She is successful at making her life interesting. So, as I struggle with building a suburban life in the Midwest and holding down a very 'adult' job, I'm conscious of holding onto that small part of myself who still craves a little 'randomness'.

I came across this blog called "The Friendly Anarchist" and I want to share with you what he says about living a more interesting life.

The mistake when trying to find out about interestingness is to look at what interesting people are actually doing. Because this only leads to even more passivity on the side of the spectator:

• “Oh, Tyler Tervooren can jump out of an airplane, but I couldn’t possibly do that because I don’t fly. Climate change is more important than having fun.”
• “Oh, Sean Ogle is traveling to South East Asia and checking off the points on his bucket list, but I couldn’t possibly do that because I love my home and wouldn’t want to leave.”
• “Oh, Karol Gadja is building a business around his Ridiculously Extraordinary blog, but I couldn’t possibly do that because I haven’t got any idea of internet marketing and writing.”

One thing is for sure: You will always find reasons not to do something interesting, even if other people are doing it. Often enough, these reasons will be pretty good. Sometimes, they won’t. But you’ll definitely find some!

I believe we have to look at what these people are not doing. And then we have to stop doing that, too. For example:

• Stop worrying 18% of your life.
• Stop overthinking everything.
• Stop remaining seated comfortably.
• Stop accepting things as they are, even if they suck.
• Stop taking the path of least resistance.
• Stop living the life other people planned for you.
• Stop worrying 18% of your life. (This comes twice, as it’s really the basics.) The good thing is that interestingness doesn’t always have to be confronting pickpockets or jumping from airplanes. It may be small things:

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• Buy unknown food at your supermarket (or an Asian / African / Latino shop) and try to cook something tasty with it.
• Go to a new bar / restaurant instead of always going to your old favorites.
• Watch a recommended movie from a genre you normally ignore.
• Engage in a street fight.

It may be big things:

• Quit your boring job.
• Write and publish that novel you’ve got inside.
• Sell everything you own and travel the world.
• Have and raise five children.

And it’s really your personal choice. Each of us is different, each of us has different ideas of how to live an interesting life.

There’s one thing interesting things have in common, though: They make us feel at least a tiny bit uncomfortable. Anxiety is the perfect indicator. Instead of worrying about or trying to ignore it, maybe we should let it be our guidance. This is not about becoming an adrenaline junkie, though. It’s not about extreme sports, about permanent travel, or about becoming an entrepreneur. It’s about taking the direction that you want to take in order to make your life more interesting.

Just wanted to share something in the blog-o-sphere that brought a little bit of clarity to my day. Hopefully you get something out of this and make a small change today!