# Trying New Things Can Make You Happier

![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article2.74d541386bbf.png)

## Metadata
- Author: [[Arthur C. Brooks]]
- Full Title: Trying New Things Can Make You Happier
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/05/neophilia-novelty-happiness/618998/

## Highlights
- Openness to a wide variety of life experiences, from visiting interesting places to considering unusual political views, brings happiness. “Only someone who is ready for everything, who doesn’t exclude any experience, even the most incomprehensible,” Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in his Letters to a Young Poet, “will himself sound the depths of his own being.”
    - Tags: [[favorite]] 
- True happiness comes from a healthy, balanced neophilia that cultivates a love for the adventure of life.
- First, regularly interrogate your tastes, and run experiments. One common misconception is that our preferences are set in stone and there’s no use trying to change them—especially as we age and become grumpier about new things.
- Second, make a point of choosing curiosity over comfort.
    - Tags: [[curiosity]] 
- Third, avoid the trap of newness for its own sake.
- And therein lies a great secret to happiness—the most important lesson about neophilia. The well-being associated with neophilia isn’t actually about new things at all; it is about a hunger—for life. To cultivate a healthy appetite for life’s offerings is to open your eyes to a world of abundance, beauty, sanctification, and adventure. And that just can’t help but bring joy.
    - Tags: [[novelty]]