What Lights You (and Your Creativity) Up?

Remember the Old Saying: "He Who Dies With the Most Toys, Wins?"

It turns out that a far more accurate saying is "The Best Things In Life Aren't Things."

They're experiences.

There's a lot of research that says new experiences make us much happier than buying stuff.

Every time I've traveled, my trips, while not uniformly fun, (like 90% daily humidity in Cambodia or cold rain, wind and a crappy raincoat in Iceland), made me happy.

They also jump-start my creativity.

The other day I was down the Internet rabbit hole when I stumbled across Alastair Humphrey's website. He says if it's true that new experiences make us happy, we should have them more often.

Hence his invention of the micro-adventure.

I took his advice, and went on a micro-adventure for 30 hours this week. You can read the details in this blog, but I can tell you the night spent in a renovated miner's boarding house, the Mexican and Asian food I ate, the tour I took of the old courthouse adjacent to the haunted jail, and the time I spent writing in the library, the only coffee shop in town, in the boarding house and outside on a picnic bench, made me happy.

Better than that, it sparked my creativity.

I revised 60% of the book I'm writing over the 30 hours of the adventure (it's a short book, but STILL!).

I'm not sure why that happened but I'm not questioning it. I'm actively seeking other new stuff: plays, different restaurants, and one micro-adventure every month.

What sparks your creativity?

Let me know some of your go-tos below. I'd love to to publicize your ideas (and try them myself).

Wishing you love, and a micro-adventures (or both)!