Not sure it's related to my ADD or not but it's been a while the whole cycle of [wake up, work, {gym/hobby}, cook, youtube, sleep, repeat] gives me a sense of mundaneness (except when I socialize). I feel like a prisoner in the repetition of life. How do you add surprise/novelty to your everyday life? (if you do)
Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
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Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#2Make a list of small new things to try: new restaurant, new beer/wine, new trail/park and then start doing them
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#3Children are pretty unpredictable. I really dig the work though.
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#4+1 to the above. the strangest thing about meditation, in my experience, is there's a state that's sometimes available in which every moment is truly novel and surprising.
I read (once, somewhere??) that some lifetime meditators put under FMRI often have the signature activation pattern that in the rest of us basically happens when we're about to say "Oh wow, look at that!" (i.e., excited by novelty) So I'm a little captivated by the idea that part of the nature of these states called "liberation" and "enlightenment" is an unending feeling of amused and interested novelty. In the literature they'll talk about "the freshness of every moment" and other similar phrases, so it seems to really be part of the sales pitch and goal.
For me it wears off pretty fast, and isn't always available. :) But definitely it's one of the things that keeps me coming back to the cushion, because ... yeah, you said it :)
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#5Become a digital nomad and move around every couple of weeks.
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#6It's banal to suggest it, but reading, reading a lot of different types of novels and non-fiction (and poetry!). I also recommend physically going to the library to access them and explore the stacks and recommendations and other offerings.
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#7IMO any sort of change will eventually become assimilated into The Loop.
The trick I think is to do things/hobbies/work in a way where you are always in the process becoming someone else vs incremental improvements on on an existing identity.
Even if the improvements compound exponentially, or the identity is something meta like "lifelong learner", the feeling of stagnating within a loop always sets in after a while.
However the willingness to become "someone else" means that the underlying value system of what is sacred/profane is never set in stone. Each experience of novelty becomes more than stimulation that the identity consumes but a possibility of seeing life in a new way.
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#8To me it's more about rethinking how I do things I already enjoy rather than discovering new activities that I might like. To give you some examples. I enjoy reading but I've realized that most of the books I read are politics/economics related so I've decided to pick up some fiction. It was like discovering reading all over again, very refreshing. I like playing video games (usually FPS, all by myself), however, recently I've started to play a few rounds of some couch co-op games with my SO. It's amazing. Most fun I've had in a long time.
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#9Always changing. I am 25, so far I have lived in 4 different countries, have dabbed into different things (went to law school in my home country, learned a second (and third) language the hard way, have had 2 children with 2 different women, learned how to code on my own and now I am learning mathematics). The thing is that there are endless new things to try, so keep trying new things.
It is a little bit f**d up because I don't have any stability, but I do have a constant source of novelty.
Re: Ask HN: How do you add novelty to your days?
#10During the pandemic, I started taking drives and walks and drives to take walks, often to mundane places. Three years later, the novelty has worn off so I take multi-day drives. So I learned it's important for me to get out often, in whatever way I can.