How often do we encourage others to try something new?  If you’re a parent, it can be a common topic of discussion.  From the early years of “Try a bite of cooked squash” to the older years of “Yes, you should try doing pole vault”, we tend to spend a decent amount of time encouraging our children to be open to new ideas, activities, and more.  We do this also in our work roles, advising and helping others with new tasks and responsibilities.  Personally, I like to have team members try something new.  If it doesn’t work well, we can fix it together.

However, when it comes to ourselves as individuals, how often do we try something new?  We go to the same restaurants and order dishes from within our normal repertoire.  We spend our free time enjoying hobbies and pastimes that are known and reassuring.  While being comfortable and knowing what we like are good, it also is enjoyable to spread our wings.

Thus, yesterday I tried something new.  Let me preface my story by explaining that it wasn’t anything earth shattering.  However, it was a step outside of my comfort zone.  So, what was it that I tried yesterday?  Juggling.

My husband is able to juggle; in fact, he’s pretty good at it.  The idea of being able to juggle sounds good to me, but the reality is trickier.  While I am an athletic person who likes to exercise and what-not, I do not excel at coordination.  My reflexes are somewhat short of being cat-like.  So, as I started my lesson yesterday, I could hear my brain thinking, You know this won’t be easy.

And it wasn’t.  I spend 45 minutes practicing.  I was able to advance from two balls to three, but that is where I got stuck.  I could throw all three, but making the first ball become the fourth in the air was where I froze.  However, at no time did I feel frustrated.  I could feel my brain and hands trying to coordinate and understand how to make this work.

I haven’t given up on juggling.  I definitely will be working on it intermittently, as I think I might be able to train myself to do this.  Even if I don’t advance further than I did, it was gratifying to spend time working my body and mind in a different way.

Of course, the same is true on the work front- trying something new is good, even if it doesn’t work as well as you hoped.  That is one of the goals at PKP, to keep adding new features, new topics, new designs with the intention of keeping our audience engaged.  Keep an eye on our publications, you are bound to find something you haven’t seen here before.