A few years ago, I decided that I just might be denying myself too many new experiences and opportunities. You see… people around me were constantly asking me to go do things with them that I thought sounded uninteresting, seemed like a waste of time, or were just downright beyond my abilities.
Want to go try this restaurant? No. I’ve never been, but the menu seems bland. Want to go to this band’s show? No. I’ve never heard them, but that’s not a style of music I like. Want to go watch this movie? No. I’ve never seen it, but the plot seems boring.
You get the idea, right?
Instead, I found myself sitting at home by myself. I successfully avoided plenty of things that way, but I’m also a big fan of the phrase, “don’t knock it until you try it.”
I decided to do an experiment: for a period of time, I would eliminate the word “no” from my vocabulary. Instead, I would say “yes” to all these random excursions.
There were some ground rules, of course. I wouldn’t agree to anything that was destructive, illegal, or harmful to myself or others. But don’t worry, nobody was asking me to go try robbing a bank or anything like that.
So what was the result? I confirmed that I didn’t like a lot of food. I watched a lot of bad movies. I heard a lot of bland music. And I tried a lot of new activities like aerial yoga, wake boarding, and surfing. Well… almost surfing. I really tried. I mean, I carried the surfboard to the beach and everything, but the water was just a smidge too cold for my tolerance and the waves were too choppy — drowning in icy water would have gone in the harmful column.
But I learned about myself, discovered new places, formed deeper friendships, and had fun doing it. It was totally worth it; however, I don’t think I’d repeat many of the experiences.
Now that I’ve tried it, I’m well within my rights to knock it, you know?
Aerik Arkadian 
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