What’s a human trying hard to hang on in this world to do? We all need coping mechanisms, and habits are among the most benign in a world where there are a lot of strong drugs out there that’ll help “take the edge off.” But habits grow weary on us…. They lead to the mind-numbing boredom you deep down know to be suspicious of. The answer is to mitigate the life-squelching effects of routines with variety and novelty.

We must shake up the snow globes of our lives.

Novelty is the saving grace of a dullingly narrow life. It responds to the basic psychological need we have to experience “newness” and stray from the well-worn paths of our routines.

Research highlights the connection between the amount of new experiences and novelty in our lives and our positive emotional state; the greater the variety in our day-to-day goings-on, the greater the happiness. Cha-ching!

Even if we self-identify as homeostasis lovers who prefer predictable structure, as humans we’re driven from the depths of our genetic coding to go after new experiences, challenge ourselves in fresh ways, and explore new ideas, people, and places.

Whether we are neophilic (wanting shiny new everythings) or neophobic (very much disinterested in trying that newfangled cheese because “cheddar is just fine”), novelty is essential if we want to live the good life. Some of us need and want newness more than others, but research is clear that we all need it; the introduction of novelty in our daily lives adds to our motivation and well-being, regardless of the importance we attach to it.

Your habits might be hanging on for dear life, and in a way we should respect them for their death grip, yes? But fuck them. They are leeching your aliveness, and you haven’t made it this far into the article just to go through the motions.

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. So here are ideas, from real live people in my workshops, on ways to refresh your days and weeks:

• “I am doing the crossword for a change, and when I get bored of that, I’ll move to another brain game”
• “Breakfast for dinner!”
• “I’m following different people on Instagram, and it’s fascinating to learn about others’ lives (and pets)”
• “I am listening to podcasts instead of music on my walks and switching up the genres”
• “I used to eat so many interesting, healthy foods and strangely forgot about them, so I’m having stuff like rainbow chard again”
• “I switch the kinds of books I read, so I try a biography, then an essay collection, then a spy story”
• “I’m using my mother’s old cookbook and am making some of her old classics—it’s fun to eat memories and reminisce about her and my childhood”
• “I insist that we change seats around the dining room table every night”
• “I sometimes mix up my get-ready routine, like by brushing my teeth before showering or eating first and then getting ready”
• “When we go out to dinner, we’ll make sure to try a new place in a new part of town every other time or so”
• “I’ve been wearing brighter colors than I normally would, and people are complimenting me for it”
• “I’m letting my husband plan this spring break vacation; I told him to keep it a secret, so I don’t know what to expect”
• “I am talking to different people around the office, which has been cool because I usually just mingle with my team or people on my floor”
• “I hired a trainer at the gym to try the things I’d never do on my own, like boxing”
• “I told my family I was going to a silent retreat over Thanksgiving and that they could order takeout turkey from Whole Foods”
• “We are trying to save money, so my husband and I issued a challenge to one another to use all the food in our cupboards and freezer for our meals, without spending a dime on groceries for two weeks”
• “I am having lunch outside every day”
• “Two words: open marriage”
• “I asked my friends with different backgrounds if they could take me to their religious services”
• “We started listening to eclectic music in the mornings as we get ready for the day”
• “I am swimming at night before bed a few nights a week, instead of first thing in the morning, and the experience feels so different”
• “We usually order Chinese food on Saturdays, and we’ve committed to switching it up a couple times a month”
• “My weekend routine is so boring, so I am turning it upside down— laundry can wait until the workweek, and Sundays are all about visiting museums and galleries and antique stores”
• “We have so many spices in our kitchen, and I’m using them in new recipes every couple of weeks”
• “I booked a trip to a national park when normally I’d choose a more luxurious urban vacation”
• “I’m a huge pessimist, so I’m imagining what situations would look like if I was a glass-half-full kind of person”
• I could keep going, but we all have things to do.

Novelty seeking acts like a booster shot to motivation; the exploration of unfamiliar things jacks up our well-being and helps us function at our best. Variety really is the spice of life … and we want the flavorful life, not the bland one, right?

Email me at Jodi@fourthousandmondays dot com with your snow-globe-of-life-shaking ideas so I can add to this list for future posts and books!