Trying new things and my 29th birthday

A friend once said she wanted to often try new things that scared her as a sort of "life goal".

I thought about that a lot and about how as we get older we tend to stop trying new things. We start to say, "I have never done that before" when someone asks us to do something as if never doing something before is a reason not to ever do it in the future.

It started with rock climbing. My friend said she was going so I decided to go with her. Outdoors in the rain with real rocks next to the river. Little does my friend know how scared I was to go and how many excuses I thought of not to go. But I often think about things that scare me, "If I don't do this, what else will I not do?" So, I went. It was empowering. I felt amazing. And I kept doing it even though each time I do the first climb I am totally freaked out. Since rock climbing, I have tried other new things: knitting, eating with chopsticks, bike commuting on the road with traffic, asking out a guy on a date. Plans for future new things include swing dancing, starting a non-profit, and learning chess. I don't want to not try something just because I haven't tried it yet.

I don't want to get old and rigid. There's a Regina Spektor song that says, "You're young until you're not". I will be young until I am not. Next blog: thoughts on turning 29.