All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.

—Henry Miller

From time to time you may move through the day with little energy or interest, as if on automatic pilot—taking the same route to work, eating the same meals, attending the same meetings, or spending time with the same people. You may ask, “Where am I going in my life?” But a more productive question is, “Where am I growing in my life?”

Although familiar routines provide comfort, they can prevent you from experiencing new challenges, excitement, and opportunities for change and growth. Doing something new or different every once in a while can help you break out of the rut of your daily grind and give you something new to think or talk about.

Today, strive to experience something new and different in your life. Take a new route to work. Stop at a different coffee shop. Strike up a conversation with someone you do not know at a meeting. Accept an invitation to dinner. Such experiences can spark a new interest in your life and stimulate you into a new way of thinking, feeling, and acting.

The goal of doing something new is awareness, not anxiety. Today I will be open to new experiences and view them as a source of challenge, novelty, and excitement.

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