One framing that I find empowering is to do something for the experience.

If you choose not to do something, you don’t get the experience, which means you miss out on a lot of potential benefits.

When you lean into new experiences, you’re likely to gain some or all the following:

• New lessons
• More character growth
• Perspective shifts and reframes
• Insights
• New friends
• Maybe a whole new social circle
• New income-generating ideas
• New invitations
• New opportunities
• New memories
• More knowledge
• New skills
• More emotional depth
• More emotional resilience
• A more optimistic attitude
• More excitement and passion
• Less boredom
• A sharper, fitter, less fragile brain

New experiences make you smarter and enrich your life in so many ways. Even a relatively short one-time experience like going to a lecture or a concert can change the direction of your life or give you a strong memory you’ll cherish for decades.

Sometimes you’re choosing between one interesting experience and another, but more often it’s a choice between something new and something familiar.

New experiences are uncertain though. They can seem scary, even when they aren’t truly threatening. It’s actually good and healthy for you to be knocked off balance now and then – it makes you stronger.

When you don’t lean into new experiences, you miss out on the wonderful romance that awaits you.

How fragile do you want to be as a human being? How crusty and set in your ways do you wish to become as you age? Do you want each day to be the same – safe and cocooned till death finally comes for you?

Are you living with that feeling of pep in your step? Do you feel excited for what you get to learn and experience each day? Or has your life become an endless barrage of sameness?

Don’t blame the virus for the sameness. There’s still plenty to explore right now without risking your health or the health of others. You can access a treasure chest of new experiences from your home.

Beware the trap of courting the same old familiar experiences. Stretch your ambition in the direction of some bigger ones now and then. Reach further into the possibility space.

This time is a gift. You could remake your identity during this time. You could develop new skills that you’ll cherish for the rest of your life. You could undertake the biggest creative project of your life – something that stretches beyond your current abilities.

Do it for the experience.