People tend to think of ‘thrill seekers’ as those who partake in extreme sports, and who thrive of the adrenaline of doing what most are too scared to even attempt. There is another form of ‘thrill seeking’, however, that can not only be applied in everyday life, but which more people are already 'enjoying' than probably realise. The ‘everyday thrill seeker’ is the person who feels the fear, but does it anyway. Who recognises how quickly dread can turn into something more positive - excitement, pride, satisfaction - once that most daunting first step has been taken. The 'everyday thrill seeker' might be the person who confronts their anxieties to speak publicly, for example, or the person who sets out on a 5k run regardless of not being a ‘running person.’ The person who walks into a coffee shop and sits alone, without the comfort blanket of a phone screen to help them ‘blend in’ or look busy. Following the path of MOST resistance in these small but significant ways, is something that we know to be character-building. Short term pain, for long term gain, so they say. The one problem, however, is that life - by it’s very habitual nature – can often seem to offer up very little opportunity for mixing things up, and for the kind of ‘newness’ on which the thrill factor depends. That said, there are always small, incremental changes we can make to rattle our habits and inject a bit of excitement into our everyday. As Baz Luhrman once said...‘do one thing everyday that scares you.’ In other words, make the commitment to actively look for new and uncomfortable ways of doing anything you might deem habitual or routine. This will look different for everyone, and It doesn’t need to be particularly dramatic or newsworthy. It just needs to be SOMETHING! Something which forces you to confront a doubt or insecurity, no matter how insignificant it might seem.
If nothing else, the experiences can serve as eye-openers to the limitations of living in the ‘comfort zone’....not to mention the joy of sometimes coming back to it!