The Value of Trying New Things
How a nail appointment got me thinking
If you know me at all in real life, you likely have noticed I’m not a super high-maintenance person in terms of hair or makeup. I like to look nice and present myself as professional, but I’m never going to spend an hour shellacking my hair or layering on thick foundation. However, one thing I’ve learned really makes a difference in how I feel about myself and how put together I feel or not is getting my nails done. (And it helps with my nails during busier times of stitching, a clear priority!) My small town has a nail salon with a great staff and appointments I can manage for myself online (I have doctors’ offices who aren’t quite so efficient!).
The way this week’s schedule was looking, I would not be able to get to a nail appointment in time to look less raggedy than I prefer (even if my dressiest work outfit tends to be joggers these days). So I went to the salon on Sunday this week (not my favorite since it tends to be busier and louder). I felt a little tired of some of my usual choices, so I followed the advice of the salon owner on a different-for-me polish color. And I tried a new nail shape.
And now, for the last 24 hours, I’ve been rather enamored with my enamel! Despite waking up with a sinus migraine today, my nails look beautiful and it makes me feel more put together than I am in body or spirit. I also feel good about trying something new! The practice of trying new things can be really hard, of course, especially in more serious matters. And yet, practicing this skill on something relatively minor and easily fixable was a good gamble.
This time it worked out well, sometimes experiments aren’t quite so easy to love. But it has me thinking today on a fairly classic lesson: there is value in trying new things.
While in the grand scheme of life the color and shape of my nails is silly, perhaps, the reminder that I can do things differently is important. Shaking things up is sometimes a necessary step to break out of ruts or reignite a dormant creativity. I take my annual teaching break in fall 2, so I tend to use this time of year for thinking and reflecting on what’s working and what isn’t. Here are some ways I’m thinking about things that might need a little shake up right now, in my work:
Is our MBA application essay prompt the best it can be?
In what ways do I want to consider changes to upcoming courses?
Did changing up my MBA faculty reminders email for this term help?
Are my scheduling time blocks working for fall 2 while I’m not teaching? What might work better as I approach the spring term?
Am I going to bed at the right time to honor the energy I need each day?
Would a few minutes rearranging the pantry make life easier? Drive us crazy?
Change can feel really big and be a big deal. And it can be not a big deal like nail shape and color. But the practice of challenging ourselves to try new things, look at the same problem through a different lens, switch up a schedule, or rearrange a space are good ways to ask our risk aversion what’s actually risky. And, very importantly, when is that risk worth it anyway?
Someone should probably warn my spouse I’m in a “shake things up” kind of mood, the robot vacuum may need to learn a new pattern for the furniture placement soon!