Anxiety makes it difficult to try new things or step outside of our comfort zone. It makes sense – the unknown can be unsettling and it’s much easier to stick to what we know.
There might not even feel like much point in doing something new if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
However, research shows that having new experiences can improve symptoms of anxiety, as well as overall mental wellbeing.
There might not even feel like much point in doing something new if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
However, research shows that having new experiences can improve symptoms of anxiety, as well as overall mental wellbeing.
Benefits
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Whether it’s something completely new or just a slightly different way of doing things, new experiences help us to develop cognitive flexibility.
Essentially, cognitive flexibility is all about our ability to be mentally flexible and adaptable – the more cognitively flexible we are, the more we are able to cope with new environments and challenging situations. Cognitive flexibility helps us to
But to notice these opportunities, you'll need a growth mindset to be open and receptive when new information, skills, or hobbies present themselves. That’s how you prepare yourself to learn something new every day. |
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Start with doing the same things differently
A nice way to ease yourself out of your comfort zone is to make small changes to the things that you do from day to day.
This could include things like eating a wild breakfast (like eating spaghetti or soup), taking a new route to the bus, or sitting in a different spot at the dinner table. While having routines can often be useful for maintaining structure in your life, you might be surprised at what new things you notice if you switch up that routine just a little bit from time to time.
This could include things like eating a wild breakfast (like eating spaghetti or soup), taking a new route to the bus, or sitting in a different spot at the dinner table. While having routines can often be useful for maintaining structure in your life, you might be surprised at what new things you notice if you switch up that routine just a little bit from time to time.
Benefits
The best part about learning new things is gaining a broader perspective. With this comes several other benefits like:
Learning is also just plain exciting and can be rewarding too. There is something really cool about learning a new skill or learning about something you didn’t know about before. We like to pretend we are professors or scientists studying Very Important Things. Imagine learning a language or learning how to make a new kind of food. How awesome would that be?
- Empathizing with a wider range of people to make new relationships
- Having a more flexible and well-rounded worldview to be more open-minded and understanding regarding other people and cultures
- Learning more about yourself, like your values, what motivates you, and what hobbies you enjoy
- Excelling at school as you gain skills such as task prioritization and time management
Learning is also just plain exciting and can be rewarding too. There is something really cool about learning a new skill or learning about something you didn’t know about before. We like to pretend we are professors or scientists studying Very Important Things. Imagine learning a language or learning how to make a new kind of food. How awesome would that be?
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Practice your PLAN
Learning new things is a great way to practice your Plan. You can set SMART goals to learn a new skill or try a new activity like rock climbing or playing the piano. In the process, you are managing your anxiety.
You can learn something new in an instant, like when someone tells you their name. But it typically takes about a minute to memorize a word, and acquiring more complex knowledge, like learning a new language or knitting, takes about 66 days.
Although it's challenging, meeting new people can greatly benefit our cognitive flexibility. Research shows that the more we speak to people from a range of diverse backgrounds, the better we are at solving complex problems.
A goal might be to see if you can speak to one new person each month – whether this is at school, while you’re out doing activities or walking in the park, or by joining social groups online.
Of course, it can feel uncomfortable to strike up conversation with someone you don’t know, but it doesn’t have to be much, even just a simple “Hi, how are you doing?” is a good place to start. For more tips on Conversation Skills, click on Talking and Speech.
You can learn something new in an instant, like when someone tells you their name. But it typically takes about a minute to memorize a word, and acquiring more complex knowledge, like learning a new language or knitting, takes about 66 days.
Although it's challenging, meeting new people can greatly benefit our cognitive flexibility. Research shows that the more we speak to people from a range of diverse backgrounds, the better we are at solving complex problems.
A goal might be to see if you can speak to one new person each month – whether this is at school, while you’re out doing activities or walking in the park, or by joining social groups online.
Of course, it can feel uncomfortable to strike up conversation with someone you don’t know, but it doesn’t have to be much, even just a simple “Hi, how are you doing?” is a good place to start. For more tips on Conversation Skills, click on Talking and Speech.
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Make it Fun
Learning something new or trying new things doesn't have to be hard and painful. Make it fun! We have very little free time between school and sports and sitting in a quiet room for 15 minutes where no fighting can be heard or asking for things can be done (maybe that's just mom).
Leave your ego at the door, and don’t aim for perfection. Instead, have fun, and rediscover the joy of experiencing new things.
Being ego-driven means being driven by a need to prove oneself better than others. On the other hand, purpose is the ‘why’ that drives you to do what you do. Being purpose-driven means that you strive to achieve a goal for the goal itself and not to appear better than someone else or achieve social status. This is the essential difference between Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset and an essential part of your ability to have fun when you're trying new things!
Trying new things should be stress relief. A way to laugh or enjoy yourself. It can be a small thing like listening to ridiculous songs or a crazy story in the car or it could be wearing a silly hat or shirt.
So, make sure you include activities that are purely for the sake of fun. Start a hobby you’ve always wanted to try, buy a new game, try a new food at your grocery store, or spend time with a good friend.
And, if something’s no longer fun or serving you, then out with the old and in with the new.
Leave your ego at the door, and don’t aim for perfection. Instead, have fun, and rediscover the joy of experiencing new things.
Being ego-driven means being driven by a need to prove oneself better than others. On the other hand, purpose is the ‘why’ that drives you to do what you do. Being purpose-driven means that you strive to achieve a goal for the goal itself and not to appear better than someone else or achieve social status. This is the essential difference between Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset and an essential part of your ability to have fun when you're trying new things!
Trying new things should be stress relief. A way to laugh or enjoy yourself. It can be a small thing like listening to ridiculous songs or a crazy story in the car or it could be wearing a silly hat or shirt.
So, make sure you include activities that are purely for the sake of fun. Start a hobby you’ve always wanted to try, buy a new game, try a new food at your grocery store, or spend time with a good friend.
And, if something’s no longer fun or serving you, then out with the old and in with the new.
Trick your brain
Everyone has anxiety. It protects us from dangerous situations. Trying something new creates anxiety because everyone is afraid of the unknown. In Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion, Wendy Suzuki outlines strategies to turn that sinking feeling into something productive.
New Stuff requires courage. And courage is itself a benefit.
Once it's released it will (like anger), take over everything in its path.
Tell your brain that this type of anxiety is actually courage and use it to motivate you.
There is a sincere feeling of happiness when we achieve a feat on our own. Remember that failure and mistakes are part of trying something new. So, if at first you do not succeed, try, try, try, and try again. Click on Persistence to learn more about good anxiety.
New Stuff requires courage. And courage is itself a benefit.
Once it's released it will (like anger), take over everything in its path.
Tell your brain that this type of anxiety is actually courage and use it to motivate you.
There is a sincere feeling of happiness when we achieve a feat on our own. Remember that failure and mistakes are part of trying something new. So, if at first you do not succeed, try, try, try, and try again. Click on Persistence to learn more about good anxiety.
Boost your Confidence
There is nothing better than trying something and succeeding. But how can you ever succeed at something new if you never try new things? When you give a new recipe a try, try a new exercise class, or travel somewhere new on your own, you increase your self-confidence. Self- Confidence is the key to Self-Efficacy.
Most of the time this happens because you try new things and you have a good experience. You tried making a recipe for roasting a whole chicken and it came out amazingly. You took a class at the rec center for the first time and even though you were sore for two days afterward, you crushed it and showed yourself how strong you are. Or you played at a new park by yourself and made a couple friends and you proved you could reach out and talk to new people.
Chances are though that even if you try new things and are not as successful, you will get a confidence boost. So you tried basketball and you hated it. What you learned was that it is easy to try something new and have plans to give soccer a try in the spring. You went to a new park and did not really like it that much, but realized that the library would be more your speed and are planning to hang out by yourself next week.
Failure does not mean you have to get down on yourself. Having a new experience and being willing to try new things is a success in and of itself.
Most of the time this happens because you try new things and you have a good experience. You tried making a recipe for roasting a whole chicken and it came out amazingly. You took a class at the rec center for the first time and even though you were sore for two days afterward, you crushed it and showed yourself how strong you are. Or you played at a new park by yourself and made a couple friends and you proved you could reach out and talk to new people.
Chances are though that even if you try new things and are not as successful, you will get a confidence boost. So you tried basketball and you hated it. What you learned was that it is easy to try something new and have plans to give soccer a try in the spring. You went to a new park and did not really like it that much, but realized that the library would be more your speed and are planning to hang out by yourself next week.
Failure does not mean you have to get down on yourself. Having a new experience and being willing to try new things is a success in and of itself.
Places to start
So many online learning platforms exist that let you learn at your own pace and try out new things. You can start with these and maybe find some ideas that motivate you to the point that you want to go out and find places and people to start practicing your Plan. Here are some of the most accessible options:
Outschool has hundreds of classes you can take from home, from dance to math to playing scrabble!
Main Topics: Fitness, Music, Education, Art
Cost: Per Class, starts at $5
Average Lesson Time: 30 minutes
EDX is free online education courses from Harvard, MIT, Berkley, and other colleges.
Main Topics: Coding, Science, Language, Humanities, anything you'd find at a college
Cost: Free
Average Lesson Time: 30 minutes-1 hour/week
Khan Academy is free online education courses in all subjects for all grade levels
Main Topics: Everything
Cost: Free
Average Lesson Time: As long as you'd like!
Code Academy
Main Topics: Coding
Cost: Free
Average Lesson Time: 40 minutes-1 hour
Coursera provides a wide range of learning opportunities, from personal-interest lessons to professional certifications.
Main topics: Business, software design, health and wellbeing
Cost: Free for a basic membership, then $79/month
Average lesson time: It varies greatly depending on the course
Skillshare offers on-demand courses broken into short tutorials and taught by industry experts.
Main topics: Marketing, design, cooking, software
Cost: $15/month, $99/year
Average lesson time: 30 minutes
Big Think showcases interviews and articles written by some of the world’s greatest thought leaders on today’s hottest topics.
Main topics: Current events, science, technology, culture
Cost: Free
Average watch or reading time: 5–15 minutes
Udemy offers more than 210,000 professional and personal development online video courses with new additions every month.
Main topics: IT and software, marketing, web development
Cost: $12.99–199.99 per course
Average lesson time: 7.7 hours
Duolingo is a foreign-language-learning platform that includes lessons for over 100 languages.
Main topics: Language
Cost: Free, $7/month for premium
Average lesson time: 5 minutes/day
Mystery Science- mostly for school use, but there are free courses or a family membership
Main topics: Science
Cost: Free, $119 for family membership
Average lesson time: 5-50 minutes
Outschool has hundreds of classes you can take from home, from dance to math to playing scrabble!
Main Topics: Fitness, Music, Education, Art
Cost: Per Class, starts at $5
Average Lesson Time: 30 minutes
EDX is free online education courses from Harvard, MIT, Berkley, and other colleges.
Main Topics: Coding, Science, Language, Humanities, anything you'd find at a college
Cost: Free
Average Lesson Time: 30 minutes-1 hour/week
Khan Academy is free online education courses in all subjects for all grade levels
Main Topics: Everything
Cost: Free
Average Lesson Time: As long as you'd like!
Code Academy
Main Topics: Coding
Cost: Free
Average Lesson Time: 40 minutes-1 hour
Coursera provides a wide range of learning opportunities, from personal-interest lessons to professional certifications.
Main topics: Business, software design, health and wellbeing
Cost: Free for a basic membership, then $79/month
Average lesson time: It varies greatly depending on the course
Skillshare offers on-demand courses broken into short tutorials and taught by industry experts.
Main topics: Marketing, design, cooking, software
Cost: $15/month, $99/year
Average lesson time: 30 minutes
Big Think showcases interviews and articles written by some of the world’s greatest thought leaders on today’s hottest topics.
Main topics: Current events, science, technology, culture
Cost: Free
Average watch or reading time: 5–15 minutes
Udemy offers more than 210,000 professional and personal development online video courses with new additions every month.
Main topics: IT and software, marketing, web development
Cost: $12.99–199.99 per course
Average lesson time: 7.7 hours
Duolingo is a foreign-language-learning platform that includes lessons for over 100 languages.
Main topics: Language
Cost: Free, $7/month for premium
Average lesson time: 5 minutes/day
Mystery Science- mostly for school use, but there are free courses or a family membership
Main topics: Science
Cost: Free, $119 for family membership
Average lesson time: 5-50 minutes
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