Hello,
My name is Drew Redman.
Thank you for listening.
I was recently on a walk in our neighborhood and came across a restaurant promoting an outdoor watch party for the upcoming USA-Bosnia World Cup match.
Since it was only a 15-minute walk from our home,
We set the intention to come by later and check out the vibe.
For context,
I had not watched any of the World Cup.
Last fall,
I watched more NFL than I ever had in my life,
And I decided that I'd use my sport fandom tokens for the year.
And now that I have a baby and a business,
I'm in a renewed period of giving as much time as I can to my dreams rather than watching others live theirs.
However,
For the sake of a nice family outing,
We took a stroll and went to the watch party.
I had no expectations for what it would be like or how long would stay,
And we got there and ended up staying for the entire second half.
It turned into a surprise midweek refresh and just a lovely summer evening.
We enjoyed it so much that we planned to go to the next game when it happens.
But the question is,
Will we enjoy it the same?
You've likely experienced the phenomena of loving a place you visited or an event you went to and then tried to recreate it,
But it wasn't the same.
There's something about leaning into spontaneity and trying something new that allows us to access a beginner's mind free of expectations.
When you don't have expectations,
There's nowhere to be disappointed.
It's all upside.
But when we do something again,
We try to control the experience.
So it hits us like the last time,
Which is impossible.
In our case,
We now know what to expect.
So we might try to control,
Well,
We gotta get in good seats.
Hope the weather is as perfect as it was the first time.
What if the baby doesn't get a nap in before?
All of this may mean we don't enjoy the next time the way that we did when we were just freely checking things out.
So I encourage you as you go about your day to see what happens if you can lean into some spontaneity to stop trying to control your day to have some experience based on an experience that you already had because you're missing out on the newness,
The energy,
The spontaneity of what might happen if you try something as if it were for the first time again.
What if I,
You know,
Like a certain class,
I don't go to a class again.
Of course,
Of course you might love yoga and it's always good or it's not always good,
But it can be as good as the first time.
I'm not saying that this is always true,
But just notice if you go on one trip and you're like,
Oh,
We got to do that trip again.
Maybe try a different trip.
Maybe it's not going to be like it was because you're different and you have expectations.
So just trying to wherever you can let go of expectations and just see experiment with how that adds to your your enjoyment,
Your fulfillment,
Your well-being,
And your sense of wonder.
Well,
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope this sort of everyday style type of talk resonates.
Let me know in the comments and I look forward to connecting with you again very soon.
