Here is a list of 5 things that you can do to become a more interesting person and live a more interesting life. Obviously there is an endless amount of more things that you can do, many of which I will touch on in future posts. Below are 5 things that I feel are important and fairly easy to do. Most of these will also be expanded on in future posts. Enjoy.
1. Travel
“What!?!? Traveling isn’t easy? It’s expensive! Dangerous! Complicated…. etc.”
In a way you’re right. Traveling can be all of those things, but it doesn’t have to be. There are relatively inexpensive local forms of travel that can be done. You can even buy a cheap tent and go camping somewhere with beautiful natural sights and scenery. Growing up my family didn’t travel much. Maybe twice we went to Florida and once to California. Other than that there was the occasional trip to Atlantic City.
Travelling builds momentum though…. Upon graduating college and after a year of working full time (and making only about $20,000) I booked 2 nights in Vegas with a girl I was dating. The next year I was single and looked for the cheapest foreign country I could go to for about 3 nights. I ended up going with a group of my buddies to an all inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic. It was awesome! The next year I went to Cancun Mexico. A few months later I quit my job, took a cash advance on my credit card for about $5,0000 and went to Europe for a month. I came back home, got a better paying job and paid off that debt. After going to Europe I had officially caught the travel bug and whenever I had vacation time off from work I would clump it all together and leave the country. I took trips to Thailand, Brazil for Carnaval, Egypt, Japan, China, India, Singapore… and so far have been to over 30 countries on 6 continents and have seen 6 of the 7 wonders of the world. If I didn’t have the money I would use a credit card. Trips varied in cost between $600 for the Dominican Republic to about $3,000 for Japan. Most places can be seen within this range. I never really had a spending problem outside of using credit to ensure I could travel (if I didn’t have the savings) so this was doable with some discipline.
Also if you don’t have a passport then GET ONE ASAP! They are good for 10 years and it takes a few weeks to get one.
Travel (especially international travel) truly adds to who you are as a person. Experiencing different cultures, foods, religions, currencies, people, languages, and every other little detail truly makes for some amazing memories. I once read that travel is the best investment a person can make for long term happiness.
There is countless more I can say (and will in the future) regarding travel, but lets move on to number 2.
2. Reading
There is pretty much an endless number of books out there on a pretty much endless number of topics. There must be something in life that you are interested in learning more about. If this is the case then give up now on looking to become a more interesting person. You just might be hopeless…. There are books available on travel, making money, meeting women or men, religion, science, health, fitness, history, politics, and any other area that you might want to learn more about or how to do something you would like to learn to do.
Public libraries are full of a wide selection of old and new books and many libraries today even have an inter-library loan system where if your home library doesn’t have a specific title, there’s a good chance a nearby library does and they will ship it to your home library for free. I often take advantage of this system because otherwise my house would slowly be filled with too many books. Amazon and eBay also offer used books for excellent prices.
3. Learning Languages
Learning languages is a great way to connect with people of different cultures, even if they themselves already know English. It gives you a leg up when travelling since people in other countries really appreciate it if you even make a minor effort in speaking their native tongue. (I will go over ways to be welcomed as a tourist in a future post). Knowing more than one or two languages truly makes you a more interesting person.
“How can I learn a language? It takes too much time! It’s too hard! I don’t have the money!”
Most public libraries have CDs, DVDs, and books that can be taken out to help you learn. Some of my favorites that I’ve gotten from local libraries are the Pimsleur and Michael Thomas systems. After your first lesson you are able to speak a little bit of your chosen language. I personally am not a fan of Rosetta Stone since it takes a while to get beyond just random vocabulary. There are also many free apps that can be downloaded for your tablet and/or smartphone. I use Duolingo sometimes while at the gym or while on line in a store or the Post Office. Language CDs are a great way to make use of time in your car spent in traffic.
Learning languages keeps your brain sharp and can be done by anyone anywhere with the right tools mentioned above.
4. Pushing Beyond Your Comfort Zone
Fortune favors the bold and doing things you may be uncomfortable with provides the greatest growth in life. This could be something small like talking to a random stranger, or driving a different route somewhere. It can also be something bigger like skydiving or climbing a mountain. The great thing about this is that pretty much everyone has limits to their own comfort zone in some area and moving past these limits both makes you more interesting and more confident. Make a list of things like this and work on doing them. A few examples might be travelling, doing some sort of extreme sport like bungee jumping, learning self defense, trying a new restaurant, etc.
Any list can be endless and this is truly a lifelong endeavor.
5. Studying Spirituality
Don’t roll your eye. I’m not about to preach. Most people have some sort of beliefs about why we are here and what happens to us when we no longer are here….
If you have one chosen faith then you should read its main holy book from cover to cover. Most faiths have religious scholars that you can also read their work to think about your spirituality in a deeper way and connect it to your everyday life. I personally recommend studying other faiths too. It is surprising how many similarities exist between different religions and world views, but this is up to you.
If you’re an atheist and don’t believe in any sort of spirituality then I would still recommend having a basic knowledge of what spiritual teachings teach. You can also study science, logic, or ethics if you are so inclined.
If you don’t have any specific religion that you adhere to tightly I would recommend studying some Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and any other spiritual paths that might interest you. I am often amazed at the insight that I’ve found reading about other spiritual systems than that in which I was raised. Quantum physics also sometimes borders on the mystical.
Spirituality or knowledge regarding it makes you more interesting and/or at least gives you more to talk to other people about.
So that’s it. 5 ways to become more interesting. I guarantee that if you start doing these things you will become a much more interesting person with a much more interesting life. Even starting just one of them will put you on the right path.
All the best until next time…
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