What I learned from the woman who does 52 new things a year
As part of my puny striving towards personal growth, I am choosing not to feel personally attacked by learning about York resident Sally Millington, who has been doing 52 new things a year since 2018. Millington's 400-plus experiments span standup, bee-keeping, cliff-camping, jazz dance and busking dressed as a turkey (choose your own worst nightmare from that list). She's clearly a force of nature and it's an admirable commitment to getting out of your comfort zone. 'Why not?' she told Radio York, explaining that her adventures helped to fuel her creative and critical thinking and forge connections with 'amazing people I would never have ordinarily have met'.
I struggled to stem the rising tide of inadequacy this threatened to unleash in me though, because I doubt I've done five new activities since 2018. I'm still struggling with the aftershocks of my regular supermarket closing and an 'adventure' is trying a new brand of hummus. I did that this week – big mistake.
I had to remind myself that I take a real quiet joy in routine, especially in a world in frightening flux. Feeding the birds first thing, then watching them with my morning coffee. Buying the same cakes from the same place after pilates, pizza on Friday and Antiques Roadshow on Sunday: all my little pleasures and rituals. Running in a well-worn groove creates a freedom that can also be creative: Lucian Freud had breakfast and lunch at the same place for 15 years; the Famous Writing Routines newsletter drills down into the rigid (and less rigid, and absolutely baffling) daily habits of everyone from Maya Angelou to Dan Brown.
We're energised by different things at different times too. New experiences can crack you exhilaratingly open or overwhelm; routine can bury you or feel as if it's holding you steady. The knack is intuiting which you need when, which isn't something I have mastered. So, in the Millington spirit, I've suggested a karaoke trip – something I've never tried but, inexplicably, think I'll enjoy – with my choir chums.
Will it open the floodgates to adventure? Doubtful, but it should take my mind off that hummus.
Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
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