I used to live on a country road in a town no one ever heard of, in the heart of midwestern farm country. This place was my father’s dream. Despite its wide-open sky, there were only certain jobs available, certain places to eat or drink. And where one shopped, played, or worshiped were limited. To me, that end of the world felt small. I needed something more. I had a different dream that didn’t include farming or being a small fish in a secretarial pool.

I moved to a bigger city. I found a job in a mid-grade steakhouse and bar as a waitress. I was happy to have escaped small-town thinking. Now I had hundreds of options!

Eventually, the same hopelessness that I’d heard in the small town came from the mouths of the regulars. They came in, sat at the bar in the same seat as the day before. They ordered the same drink and said the same thing every day, expecting some kind of miraculous change—that never came. They sat with the same people, talked about the same things and complained about their never-improving lot in life.

From there I moved to an even bigger city. The Deep South was a total map change, a free side of sunshine and culture shock. The weather was bright and hot and early a thousand miles from home. I did a lot of thinking. But being among different people gave me new perspectives.

My friend Karyl, who I met in Orange Park, helped me see. You can look at everything as drudgery or the next big adventure. People weren’t upbeat or happy because of where they were, they were happy because they chose to be. A place can’t make me happy, but my attitude can. Whether I’m in the south, in the city, the country, or even quarantined.

So what does this mean for you?

To change my life, I don’t have to move halfway across the world. There are simpler things I can do. I’ll share a few that have worked for me.

What’s on your plate? Changing your menu is a great opportunity for new textures, new flavors, and new spices. Check out unusual grocers in your area. Buy something new to try. Ask other people what they eat. It’s endlessly fascinating.

What’s in your ears? Listening to different kinds of music opens a whole new part of your brain.  I do this especially if I’m cooking food from a different country. By listening to their music while you eat, you might feel like you’re on vacation!

What’s in you mind? Reading books outside of your comfort level. I love to read. Finding a book completely opposite of my personality can show me how someone else deals with life. Authors from a different culture never fail to surprise. I’m always in awe of the myriad ways a story can be told. A whole book seems too daunting? Try an anthology. (America’s Best Essays; or Short Stories for example) You get fifteen to twenty perspectives for the cost of one book.

Google Earth lets you search in a country you’ve always been curious about. Go to street level to see the kinds of houses they live in and what their geography looks like. Check into star forts. It’s fascinating how our ruins in the States look exactly like ruins everywhere else in the earth, thousands of years old.

There’s so much that is wonderful about our world. If you haven’t been curious lately, you’re missing out. If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got. The point is that to think a different way, you need new input. New input=new output.

Let me know what you discover!