Why do you need to experiment?

Don’t worry, it’s not about scientific experiments.

If things are sailing smooth and everything around is going on perfectly fine, why do we need to change? If you have a particular routine set, why break it? Most of us enjoy how things are the way they are. It’s our comfort zone which we have built over a period of time, after identifying what suits us. That was the case with me as well. I didn’t like experimenting or changing my routine even the slightest bit.

The idea of making even the smallest change in a particular thing, may it be how certain things are cooked, even the order of adding spices or alignment of clothes in my wardrobe, made me unconformable. Then marriage happened. One of the biggest experiments of my life. My partner played an important role in opening up my mind to change.

Earlier I only liked reading non-fiction books and to a certain extent classic fiction novels (Harry Potter series was an exception here). I mean why bother your mind with, vampires, dragons, werewolves, etc. when they don’t even exist? Might as well invest time to know more about reality, right? Then, with a slight hesitation, I tried The Thirteen Tale, The Hunger Games series, Mistborn Trilogy. The more I read these fiction novels, the more I became addicted to them. It opened up a whole new world for me. Today, I am able to pick up any fictional novel and not afraid to give it a try (I do check reviews before picking it up).

I really liked a sense of order, still do. If a certain things has to happen in particular way, then there is no negotiating further for me. I do question and look for satisfactory answer, but that’s about it. I remember one time, I was preparing potato sabzi for lunch. My husband told me, let’s add some ketchup, vinegar along with 4 different spices (not the standard ones I used to add) and mix it with some other vegetables we have in house. That was one of the craziest thing I heard.  Like really? Who adds ketchup in a sabzi, which you are supposed to have with dal and rice? Nonetheless, he still tried it (prepared it separately for himself). And when he tasted it, he himself was amazed about how tasty this experiment turned out for him. I couldn’t help but try it. Today, it’s one of our regular dishes.

There have been many such experiments that I tried so far, right from picking up spectacles from men’s section to trying out a different field of study. So far, I have not been disappointed with these experiments or changes.

Learnings…

Many of us are taught to do things in a certain way. Like, ‘That’s how it’s supposed to be’. That approach is perfectly fine, but that doesn’t mean that there is no other way to go about it. I feel, it’s all about giving that one try and one shot, to let go of your inhibitions. For me, I had to take a lot of effort. My colleagues still address me as ‘Teja’ (a Bollywood movie character who’s very particular). And, I’m still trying. Thoughts or approaches built over a period of time, don’t change overnight. My husband obviously helped me and brought in this attitude for experimentation. But, I still feel, that had I learnt to try a bit earlier and experiment, I would have finished so many books by now or learnt various different things.

So don’t wait for a trigger to happen, to experiment. Implement those crazy thoughts once in a while, experiment and I’m sure whether they are successful or not, you will feel good about yourself. If you have some interesting experiments you have done lately, feel free to share them with me.  

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