When was the last time...

…you did something for the first time?

Routine. The status quo. The same old thing. How easy it is for life to get really, really boring!

Why does that happen?

Amos Bronson Alcott, the non-conformist American educator and writer, said at some point in his 89 years of life between 1799-1888: “The less routine the more life.” I couldn’t agree more.

Life usually gets boring because we settle for the safe and comfortable. We look for the unadventurous ruts that keep us on the course of sameness. We stay on the beaten path because that’s what most people do – and we don’t want to take any risks.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

It’s not like we lack enough opportunities to do new things. Every time a problem, a tragedy, an obstacle rises up against us, it disguises an opportunity to explore our potential. But unfortunately, too often we only see the disguise and don’t notice the opportunity.

One day Joshua stood before well-guarded Jericho wondering how he would get past its mightily thick, 30-foot-high walls. While he wondered how, God sent the commander of His angel-armies to tell him: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand.” In other words, I don’t want you to look and see the wall. I want you to see what I will do for you and what you will enjoy once I’ve done it.

Jericho was an immoveable obstacle. But Joshua learned to see it as an opportunity. What an exciting victory that impossibility turned out to be! Wouldn’t you have liked to be there and see those walls tumble down?

You can’t have a boring life when you learn to embrace challenges instead of avoiding them.

Do you see a problem in everything? Do you always find a reason why you shouldn’t try something more challenging? Are you always complaining about what you don’t have and can’t do? What a boring life you must have.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Train yourself to look through the wall, not at the wall. Remember, the wall is only a disguise. What is it hiding? What’s behind it? What must you do to conquer it?

When you start embracing new and bigger challenges, you will start living.

I only hope you don’t leave it till it’s too late.