How to Make your Life Interesting and Refreshing?
So often, we find our lives to be totally boring, repetitive and feel like there are just not enough ‘kicks’ in life anymore. We kinda get stuck in a loop, rehashing the same things again and again, the same way day in and day out. Well, there has to be a better way to make our life interesting and fortunately, there is.
You see, it all boils down to your way of seeing things. I mean, you might be all over the place, doing a world tour, hanging out with A-list celebrities, playing the latest adventure sports, partying like the Kardashians, drinking like fish every weekend, and still feel that life is boring after a while.
And you may be living in the mountains, doing a nominal 9-5 job, have a humble lifestyle, follow the same routine every day and still feel refreshed in every moment of life. Both the scenarios are possible.
So, as I said earlier, it’s all about your vision. What you are doing isn’t that important but how you are doing what you are doing is more paramount. You can be curing cancer or working with Elon Musk to make life multi-planetary and you could still complain about why your life is not interesting and you may be a CA for the same company for the past decade and still get all the highs.
The question is how you can set that kind of mindset or attitude or whatever you wanna call it, to make life seem interesting and new?
Let The Treasure Hunt Begin
Universe Is Like a Never-Ending Film
We all love movies, don’t we? Naturally, we will enjoy watching a movie more when we see it for the first time than when we watch it for the sixth time. Because we love the thrill, the suspense, and all of those “Holy Shit!” and “What the hell just happened!!” moments. Watching the same film again and again kinda takes away the charm from it.
Now, coming into our lives, we are actually a part of a never-ending film itself. Every second is already new and refreshing as you never know what the very next moment holds, but the problem arises when we stop living in the moment and start living in our memories.
Our memories pretty cleverly mask the present moment and give us the impression that all of this has already happened before, making our lives seem stale and far from refreshing. Technically, one simply has to remove this mask and see the reality as it is, that itself will be enough to make every moment of your life new and interesting.
No matter how good a movie is, watching it again and again on a loop will bore the shit out of any movie buff. And that’s precisely what’s happening to us in our lives. We meet the same people, talk about the same shit, do the same things, work the same job, come home the same time, party the same day of the week, and all of that is piling up to a big mess of “My Life is not invigorating enough.”
Each and every moment that comes and goes is brand new in itself, it’s our vision and sight that depletes the quality of these moments. Basically, I am simply here to remind you of the fact that you don’t need to do anything to make life interesting, it already is.
No Two Experiences can ever be the Same
The beauty of life is such that no two experiences can ever be the same. It can be similar, but never the same. Whatever is similar is a thing of the past, so don’t make a fuss about that. You will never open the door the same way, the AC’s cool wind will never strike your body in the same manner, you will never comb your hair in the same style, you will never take a shit in the same form, you will never read my blog with the same outlook, you will never hug your partner in the same fashion, you will never see the same patterns in the sky. It will be similar, but never the same.
You could be watching the same film on two different occasions, with the same people around, on the same couch, eating the same snacks, and still, both the experiences are gonna be wildly different.
You could be going for a walk on the same path every day but still, find a plethora of things that you never saw before. Maybe the sun is partially hiding behind the clouds a little more today, maybe the road smells a tad different because of the rain the previous day, maybe you will get to see a couple of new faces on your walk that you never saw before, maybe you will come across a butterfly that will mesmerize you to the core, maybe you will feel more energetic than you ever felt before, maybe your neighbor’s dog will give you a quarter-mile chase, maybe the wind will love playing with your hair in a distinct way, maybe you will inspire someone someday who’s looking for some inspiration to start working out, maybe you will encounter an old friend on the same path, maybe.
But, instead of keeping your mind open to a hundred and twelve other ‘maybes’ we will simply go with our brains shut and remain under the impression that ‘today is just gonna be like another normal day, so let’s get on with it.’ And that will be your biggest mistake.
I will iterate it again, you don’t have to make life new and refreshing, it already is.
Comparison and Boredom Goes Hand in Hand
Probably the quickest way to get bored and dejected is by comparing. Compare your 5 years younger self to your present self and you will notice a lot of changes if you observe patiently but you will straight away dismiss the whole thing if you just start comparing it.
Go to your rooftop and get smitten by the majestic wonder of nature and look up at the sky. It has never been like that before, but your degenerated mind will be quick on its feet to compare it “Oh, it’s the same old sky” and kill the whole vibe of it.
The sky is not the same dumbass. It has transformed. The clouds are in a distinct shape, the hue of the blue isn’t the same anymore, the sun isn’t radiating the same yellow, the birds aren’t flying in the same pattern anymore. Seriously, everything but your regressed mind has changed.
You are so busy replacing the new with the old and dead that you are totally oblivious and clueless about what you are missing out on. Stop hanging out with what’s dead and start acknowledging the living. Moreover, “Dead Men Tell no Tales” so why even bother impersonating Jack Sparrow to steal a bank that’s already demolished when your Black Pearl is right in front of your eyes?
To Freshen your Life, Stop Labelling
Since we are so preoccupied with precycling the new into old in our mind, whenever we feel something radically new, we immediately put a label of either ‘goody’ or ‘stinky’ on it. If it’s the former we’d want it to happen again and again to the point that it ultimately becomes old and stale, and well, if it’s the latter then who gives a shit about that?
If a person starts giving you some pleasurable experiences, then you will stick with that person like a leech and wouldn’t want the inflow of pleasurable experiences to ever stop. And those experiences are again associated with the past, not the present.
We’d never want such an experience to die out. It’s almost like expecting the other human to become lifeless like plastic, it’s simply not possible. The fact that both the experiencer and the one giving the experience are constantly changing, is a good thing. It’s a testament to the fact that they are alive.
Stop Holding onto the Memories
You need to let go of those previous experiences irrespective of whether they were good or bad. Just like a tree has to shed its leaves for new ones to grow. Change means something new is formed, so instead of wallowing the old and nonexistent, embrace the new and fresh.
But we don’t want to see the new, we simply want the person to remain as he was earlier because we have become so attached to his past self. To make life refreshing and new, you gotta cuddle the change and stop holding onto some past experiences that made you happy. In fact, technically you can’t even hold onto any experience, you are just holding onto the memory of that particular experience.
What good is gonna come out of your holding memories? Aside from having a few giggles and deluding yourself to believing that you are having a good time, you are gonna feel pretty empty pretty soon. Every second you spend reminiscing or being attached to the past is a second you are taking away from making your present even more memorable.
Whenever you have to use your past to make your present enjoyable, what does it actually convey about your present? To me, it conveys the fact that my present isn’t as good as my past, which honestly isn’t a situation I wanna be in. When your life is already kickass then you don’t need to fall back on your memories to somehow pass the time.
A flowing river never stops and ponders upon the way she cut through that big boulder or how deeply satisfying was the experience of her falling down the cliff a week ago. She’d simply enjoy the moment and move on to the next one. That’s how she makes her life interesting and fun and new.
Change your Sight to make Life Refreshing
I am sure most of you must be expecting a ‘how to’ type answer wherein a question is asked and the writer is expected to just give away the top 10 tips, or the quick-fix solution to the problem. But hey, guess what, that’s really not my thing.
I am gonna stick to my favorite gun, which is helping you elevate the standards of your thoughts and give them a new direction that will consequently deepen your understanding of life.
So, once these ideas set in regarding making your life interesting, you wouldn’t have to do anything, and neither would you require a dozen of tips to make your life interesting like get a puppy, or go on a vacation, or pick a new hobby, or start making cat jokes. I am not saying they are not necessary, but I am just trying to build up your foundation.
Once your understanding broadens your vision will automatically change and you will already start figuring out things like these. So, instead of making changes at the superficial level all your lives, which most people do, work on the very foundation on which you are gonna build your home.
Stop Oldifying Things
We are constantly, in a never-ending manner inputting something new, processing it, and spouting old in our minds.
I am pretty sure even now you are connecting whatever I am saying right now with something you already heard or formed an opinion about and must be thinking either “Damn, this guy knows what he’s talking about” or “What an ass he is!”
That’s why couples get bored of each other once the honeymoon phase is over. They stop noticing the newness and the freshness of the partner as they start looking at them with their memories. Their memories come in the way of discovering something they have never discovered before in their partners.
Ideally, if you are looking at your partner even after being together for 20-30 years, then it should be like you are looking at them for the first time. It isn’t impossible and it certainly won’t hurt to give it a try at least.
People are changing every goddamn second with every passing stimulus. The fact that you won’t be the same person as you were before you read this article is itself a testament to the fact that you’d be crazy if you still believe that there is nothing new in life. You just changed, and are constantly changing every goddamn second, so just imagine, there is so much to discover, both in you and your partner.
How on earth can life ever get boring is beyond me! Well, of course, that’s only possible if you are seeing things my way.
What happens in Past, Should stay in Past
In a way, you are constantly dying and taking rebirth every passing moment. And so is everyone around you. And, if you go by this logic, then what you will be seeing won’t be your partner but a new person altogether.
Every moment will be a new moment, every experience will become a ‘never experienced before’ experience, every second will be spent being fascinated and mesmerized as it will always be the first time you will ever experience something like this before.
Enough with carrying the pile of past and spilling it all over your present. Just leave it where it is supposed to be. You don’t wanna dig the already buried corpses to have them rub off on you, just leave them be.
Life is a Game
I play tennis, and it doesn’t matter if I play with the same opponent on the same court at the same time, no two matches that I play can ever be the same. There are simply infinite permutations and combinations that are never gonna run out. The outcome of the game can be the same, but the ‘game’ can never be the same. Different services, forehands, backhands, volleys, lobs, smashes, drops, slices, spins, and flats are gonna keep up the uniqueness of the game.
Now when a game like tennis, played on the same dimensioned court, with the same rackets, same balls, same nets, same rules, and even the same opponent can yield infinitely many possibilities, then can you even come close to fathoming the diversity or the uniqueness life has to offer to you? One possibly can’t.
Life is like playing tennis or any other sport for that matter nonstop, except that the entire world is your court here. How insanely awesome and exceedingly creative is that?
Come to think of it, one of the primary reasons we love sports is the uncertainty, the adventure of not knowing the outcome, the thrill of not going into a repetitive loop. And when it comes to life, it’s the father of all games.
And the one who has come to realize this fact gets to live one hell of a life. And the even better part is that you don’t need any fancy degrees or years of concentration to have this epiphany. If you want, you can have it in the next two seconds and if you don’t then even the next twenty years won’t be enough.
Be open to Anything and Everything
One of the primary reasons why life seems dull and monotonous is due to the fact that we have limited our perspective of life. If we like hitting smashes, then all we want to do is to hit a smash, but hey, that’s not life. If you wanna make life refreshing and fun, then you have to be open to anything and everything. Doesn’t matter if you have to hit a backhand or a volley, you gotta be ever ready.
Similarly in life, you don’t have to get attached to the pleasurable sensations, and neither you have to detest the painful ones. Doing so, will undoubtedly bore the hell out of your life. It’d be like only attempting to hit one out of five balls.
Now, just because you are not attached to the pleasures doesn’t mean they will stop happening. Your fear of pain doesn’t avoid them, it amplifies their scaring capacity. So, don’t be under the impression that your desire for pleasures was the cause of it. You are not controlling them.
But once you rise above the good and the bad, positive and negative, you are broadening your scope of living life to its fullest. You are neither going insanely crazy if you experienced something good nor you are turning paranoid and neurotic if something bad happens.
If you could be like this then even the pleasurable instances will ironically be more intense and fulfilling as you are not crazy about it and neither do you want it to happen again and again. You will be experiencing them like the first and the last time as instead of running after the same experience, like most people do, you will always perceive everything as new and fresh.
Also, you will stop running from the negative and the painful experiences as you’d realize that they are also a part of life, and in order to make the best music of your life, you gotta play both the white and the black keys in the piano of life.
Final Thoughts
When you encompass everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly, then you will be truly alive and your life will become totally fresh and kickass, the way it was supposed to be.
Go out into the wild and observe nature. The flora and fauna never get bored from life. They embrace every single moment of their lives.
Two eagles flying high in the sky, toying with each other in a never seen before manner, trees swaying in a rhythm like never before, a parent dog loving their munchkins in the loveliest of manner, clouds forming the most bizarre patterns, dolphins making the eeriest of flips, monkeys making the cutest of faces, and not to mention the hundred and twelve tantrums your gf will make.
Let them in.