Of course it would beamazing.

But let's behonest. We don't have the time to just leave our life behind rightnow, jump on a plane and go halfway around theworld.

Simply shaking up your routine is all that research says you need todo.

So here's what we're going to doinstead.

I'm going to teach you my favorite trick to shaking up yourlife.

It's a little game and I play this game all thetime.

It is exactly what you need right now and what I love about it doesn't have to cost athing.

It is right in front of your face just waiting for you to seeit.

All you need is 30 minutes and the willingness to walk out your front door and the gamebegins.

So youready?Great. Let's shake thingsup.

Hey, it's your friend Mel and it is such an honor to spend some time together with youtoday.

And I also want to start by acknowledging you for choosing to listen to something that is going to help you create a betterlife.

I just think that'sawesome.

And if you're a newlistener, welcome to the Mel Robbins podcastfamily.

I'm so glad that you're here with me because today you and I are going to play one of my all time favoritegames.

It's called Never BeenThere.

Never donethat. And I'm going to explain what it is in just aminute, but you can kind of think about it like making a bucket list of things that you've neverdone.

Places you've neverbeen, but here's thecatch.

These are not things that are halfway around theworld.

These are things that are right in your ownbackyard.

And there's a couple of reasons why I love thisgame.

Numberone, it is a simple way to shake up yourlife.

Imean,let's, let's faceit.

You are a creature ofhabit.

So amI. And it doesn't matter if you're in a smalltown.

You live in a ruralarea.

You live in a bigcity. There are places right around you where you've nevereaten.

There are coffeeshops.

You've never stepped foot inside of their neighborhoods that you've neverexplored.

Museums, arcgalleries, junk shops and teakstores.

Secondhand clothing places that you've never opened the door and stepped footinside.

There are lectures that are happening right now at your local library that you aren't even awareof.

Sports leagues that you could join volunteer opportunities that you've always wanted to get involvedin.

There are hikingtrails, bikingtrails, walking trails that you've always passedby, but you've never turned and ventureddown.

You know I'mright. Don't you hate it when a friend of yours points out something and you know that they'reright?

And the second reason why I love thisgame, never beenthere, never done that is because you shouldn't have to wait until you have the time and the money to go on a vacation faraway.

You shouldn't have to wait to be able to escape your day-to-daylife.

Youknow, I was just talking with my colleagueTracy, who is the executive producer of thispodcast.

And she was sharing this story that I know is going to resonate withyou.

So this weekend she was with her family and everyone was gathering around and they were talking about all of these possible places that they could go away on vacationtogether.

Let's go to theCaribbean.

How aboutPatagonia? Wouldn't it be fun to go onsafari?

I've always wanted to go toGreece.

You've done that with yourfamily,right?

Imean, it's reallyfun.

It's amazing to put together a big wishlist.

But it's going to take you two years to save the money and block everybody'scalendars.

Imean, if you're anything like my family or Tracy'sfamily, there's one weekend this summer that your family can actually find overlapping dates to be able to get to the same beachtogether.

And so planning abig, amazing trip to the Caribbean or to go on safari or go somewhere you've never beenbefore.

Having something like that off in thedistance, it is so important and you should dothat.

But here's thething. It's off in thedistance.

Imean, Tracy and I were just laughing because you want to know what happened with her family at the end of this amazing dream vacation brainstormingsession.

There was no vacationplant.

Why?Well, because there's not a single date this year that works foranybody.

And if you really take a second and you stop and think about your ownlife, my life is reallybusy.

What if I told you that you could do something that is almost as fun is going away on vacation in the next sevendays?

You could create your own adventure playing thisgame, never beenthere, never donethat.

And so that's what we're going todo.

And by the end of thispodcast, you are going to have generated your own bucket list of things to do and experience in your ownbackyard.

And the way that I'm going to teach you how to do this is I will walk you through five different prompts that are going to make you really think about all the different ways that you can explore your own neighborhood or your own city or the varyingtown.

And you are going to make a never beenthere, never done thatlist.

You don't have to do it oneday.

Whatever ends up on the never beenthere, never done thatlist.

This is something you can pick from once a week from now until the end of the year to keep shaking up yourlife.

Because the research shows when you have something in the future to look forwardto.

What's so cool about that is you get two bumps to your mood and yourenergy.

The first boost that you get to your mood and your energy is simply planningit.

Planning it and having something that you're able to look forwardto.

Boom immediately boost your mood andenergy, which is what we're going to do right now together on the podcast asfriends.

We are going to plan your never beenthere, never done thatlist.

And the second time you're going to get a big boost to your energy and your mood is when you actually do the thing on your never beenthere, never done thatlist.

When you go to a place you've never been to when you do the thing that you've neverdone.

You are going to feel like a differentperson.

I do this all thetime. Trustme.

You're going tosee. And so I want you to start this process by just thinking about where youlive.

Okay. Maybe you live in a rural area like I do and you constantly say there's nothing to do aroundhere.

Or maybe you live in the suburbs and it's likeboring.

You basically go to like those big shopping areas where the big box storesare.

Youknow, do the same things or maybe you live in a bigcity.

But you really only stick to your neighborhood in the bigcity.

Wherever it is that you live in theworld.

There is so much under your nose just waiting to bediscovered.

I once heard somebody describe the area that I live invery, very rural area on theoutside.

It looks like there isn't squat to do where Ilive.

But what this person said is she'slike, youknow, verydeceiving.

Youknow, you lookaround.

You don't seeanything.

It's sort of like walking by an anthill,right?

You literally see an ant hill and you'relike, that's a little mound ofdirt.

Nothing interesting going onthere.

Nottrue. You look inside an anthill.

Holycow. There's a whole just world andvibrancy.

Same thing about your ownbackyard.

See, the problem is that you drive by the samethings.

You do the same stuff and you are missing what is hidden underneath thesurface.

Something that is waiting for you to unlock all the hidden gems to discover in your ownbackyard.

And if you think about your lifeexperience, I bet you know that this istrue.

So I'm going to tell you a story to just prove mypoint.

I remember when I moved from the Boston area where my husband and I had lived with our three kids for 26 years up to a rural area in southernVermont.

It wasn't until I left the Boston area that I realized I didn't take advantage of absolutely everything that the greater Boston area had tooffer.

I didn't exploreit. I didn't care aboutit.

Imean, I went to the same threerestaurants.

I went to the same coffeeshop.

I almost never went to FenwayPark.

I bet I went to theMFA, the Museum of Fine Arts inBoston.

Once or twice in 26years, Isabella Stewart GardnerMuseum, youknow, the one where there was that huge artice, maybe once ortwice.

I never even made it out to the Harbor Islands for theday.

Imean, I could go on and on and on and come to think ofit.

Youknow, we moved to this area in southernVermont, which is a place where my husband had been going all hislife.

So I have been going to southernVermont, the place that I now live for 28years.

But let me pay a picture for how little I actually knew about thearea.

We would drive up there occasionally to go visit myin-laws.

We would arrive Friday night afterwork.

We'd put the kids tobed.

We would wake up at theirhouse.

We would have breakfast at the house with thefamily.

And then we would either go hike or Chris would play golf or we would go to one of the two ski resorts that are in thearea.

And then we would comeback.

We'd have dinner at the house withfamily.

And then we would drive back to Boston on Sundaymorning.

So for all thoseyears, when we would go up to Vermont for aweekend, this was ourroutine.

We never went out toeat.

Other than running to a grocerystore, we never really went shopping or didanything.

So in our son turned to us four years ago andsaid, I want to move to southernVermont.

I turned to him and I waslike, southernVermont.

What? There'snothing.

Imean, that is a place where people go todie.

There's nothing to dothere.

I'm not movingthere. And I couldn't have been morewrong.

It's just like my new friend said any place that you live has a vibrant active community like an ant hill so much goingon.

You're just passingby.

You don't see what's beneath thesurface.

Infact, right near where I live is the National Fly Fishing HistoryMuseum.

28years. I've been driving past thisplace.

Never step foot inthere.

So guesswhat? It's going on thelist.

It's something I could do thisweekend.

And that's just the tip of theiceberg.

Imean, my colleague Jesse is always raving about this amazing gardencenter.

She says it just goes on for miles and miles and it is soincredible.

I'd never even heard ofit.

Never beenthere. Never donethat.

I'm going to add it to thelist.

There's also this place in another town over where there's this cross country ski complex where they light the trails withcandles.

Imean, how freaking cool isthat?

Never beenthere. Never doneit.

Add it to thelist. Here's anotherone.

And infact, this is what I love about thisgame.

You are so into your routine of going to the same threerestaurants.

You haven't even been looking around at all the coolthings.

And once you start to open your mind ofthis, you're going to see iteverywhere.

Just like I'm seeing iteverywhere.

I'm telling you rightnow.

There are all these women that I now know since I've lived in southern Vermont for four years who all go to the same crossfitgym.

Never beenthere. Never donethat.

Add it to thelist. And here's anotherone.

I've just heard that there's a new woman who teaches a bar class on Tuesdaynights.

She's supposed to befantastic.

She moved to thearea. Never even been to thestudio.

So are you starting to get a sense of what a fungame.

This is good because starting right now you andme.

We are starting are never beenthere.

Never doneit. Adventuretogether.

Now I've already added five things to mylist.

And so we're going to keep on having somefun.

And we're going to start adding things to your list because the whole point is for you to shake things up to become moreconnected, more adventurous to live a more purposeful life to explore a little to shake things up and have a whole lot morefun.

And if you've opened up every door in your teeny tiny littletown, just go one town over or go one neighborhood over or one city block over and you're going to find a whole new world toexplore.

And before we talk about these five different types of things you're going to add to thelist.

Let's just dig into the science because there's great science to explain why this never beenthere.

Never done that adventure game thing is soawesome.

And the two areas of research that explain the power of the never been there never done it list have to do with goal setting and something called habituation and I'm going to take them one at atime.

So the first body of research that I want to talk about is goals based on the research setting goals is critical to creating a better life because dreams andgoals.

Even when they're just as simple as like you know what I'm going to do this weekend I'm going to go down to that new garden center things that you can do in your own backyard making a goal and doingit.

It does two importantthings.

First ofall, a goal of something you're going to do it gives you a sense of direction and second it defines a game that's worthplaying.

And you see when you make this list you're defining micro goals for yourself and that helps you shake up yourlife.

You're making this action oriented plan that helps you lift yourself out of the day to day autopilot do the same old stuff all the time and it creates more meaning and excitement in yourlife.

And it's just really stop and consider what I'm saying to you right now I glitch this roll the clock forward it Saturdaymorning.

Okay. You got noplan. You roll out ofbed.

What are you going to dome.

Whatever the wind takes me I'm just going to you know wake up and kind of figure out you know what you're going to do you're going to go to the grocerystore.

You're going to run all the same errands you're going to get stuck in the house doing chores you might stop at the place you always get coffee next thing you know Saturday's over same old sameold.

Well guess what the wind is picking up and it's blowing you right into your never been there never done itadventure.

Justimagine. Saturday morning you've listened to this podcast you've got this long list of things on the list and you wake up and you say oh mygosh.

I'm going to go check out that new nursery today or oh my gosh I'm going to go to the fly fishing museum today you know what you just did you made that Saturday more meaningful and you deserve to feel that and you're never been there never done that list is going to help you doit.

Now the second piece of research that I want to unpack for you is all about excitement and I'm going to ask you specifically this is not one of those podcast episodes to just listen to okay I want you to do something with this so as you're listening if you've got the ability to write down your list and jot little notes as I've been talking doit.

If you're not able to make a list because you're driving a car you're busy walking and taking me on a walk with you which I love love love seeing all the pictures that you guys post as you're listening to the podcast you don't have a pen no problem when you're done with your walk or you're done driving just make sure that you take the time to jot down some notes and you keep a list because check out this research based on the research simply putting a plan in place to explore yourown.

Backyard will bring more excitement into your day to day life just making the list because you and I get so stuck in the day to day slump I know I do oh my God don't you get sick of your own routine at times I mean it's like my God when did I become so boring it feels like you're just kind of sleep walking through your life you're going through the motions you're kind of onautopilot.

You know some days you barely taste the coffee because you make it the same way every day or you order it the same way every day that's why everybody loves when it's pumpkinlot.

Season because we're shaking things up but when you're in that sort of like whole home nothing new everything's kind of nothing going on here you don't notice a beautiful view you don't hear the birds chirping you don't stop and smell the roses or check out the flowersblooming.

When this is what happens when you don't shake up your day to day routine this is why we crave a vacation we want to escape you think I got to go to Bali I got to go on a retreat I got to get on a vacation yeah you do need to getaway.

And what I'm going to tell you is simply shaking up your routine is all that research says you need to do because when you get into that slump of the whole homes you're experiencing a phenomenon that researchers called habituation there's a lot of science around this and we're going to get into the science in fact there's a neuroscientist from MIT that has research this and what habituation means is that yourroutine.

Actually can kill the joy in your life and we're not going to let that happen so we're going to come back I'll unpack that research quickly and then we're going to jump into your never been there never done that list you're going to start making it so get your pens get your paper we're going to be making a list and I'm going to walk you through the five different categories of adventures that you're going to put on the list it's so fun don't you dare go anywhere I'm going to be waiting for you after a short break to stay withme.

Welcome back and your buddy Mel Robbins you and I are shaking things up today I am teaching you a game that I love to play called never been there never done that it's a way to shake up your life you need it you're going to love it and before I walk you through making you're never been there never done that list I want to just briefly unpack this research around routines and how getting into too much of routine things are toofamiliar.

It's the same old same old this is a phenomenon called habituation it is robbing you of joy this research is so powerful that I've dedicated an upcoming episode to the topic of habituation the research around habituation which basically means your routine is slowly killing you and you're going to learn firsthand from an MIT neuroscientist that habituation which basically means you've gotten so used toyou.

The same three restaurants the same commute the same stores that you go into the same stuff you buy at the grocery store the same five meals that you cook athome.

This is why something that can seem awesome on a Monday is suddenly boring on aFriday.

This is why if you go to your favorite restaurant and you order the same dish over and over and over again by the 20th time you've had the homemade bull and a's it doesn't taste as great as it did the first time routines are great for lock and an inhabit but when your life becomes too routine it loses itssparkle.

And you know that this is true it's why the person that you were madly in love with not so sparkly after a couple of years your beautiful backyard not so sparkly those breathtaking work of art if you stare at it for five years not so sparkly why because you're used toit.

habituation just means you're so used to your life you stop noticing the most wonderful and beautiful things about your life and that brings me to another reason why I love never been there never done that adventures it's a way you can see your own life your own backyard is if it's brandnew.

It's a way for you to shake things up and regain a sense of wonder about all the great things in your life that are right under your nose this isn't just another Saturday this is a Saturday or you're shaking things up where you're exploring and based on decades of psychological biologicalsciences.

It's the key to seeing feeling and noticing things again and that key is change by changing your environment changing up the rules changing the people you interact with changing your routine changing your commute or even just stepping back andimagining.

The changes that you're going to make by creating this list and doing all these things that you've never done before your shaking things up this is why again that you crave an escape or a vacation instinctively you know you know when you hit that point where you're like I got to say things up I got to get myself out of this I got to get myself somewhere else and based on theresearch.

Here's the great news you don't need a huge shake up you and I don't need to find the time and the money to leave our life and go halfway around the world all you need to do create this list create this list withme.

Create this list with me and then one by one week by week just check them off it's so vital to have meaning adventure and wonder in your life and you can do it starting today so you're ready to begin you're never been there never done that adventuregreat.

I'm going to now walk you through the five easy ways to fill out your list and jump start your adventure and that first way go to a new store it says easy as that this is one of the easiest ways to explore your hometown your city neighboring towns like just walk down the main street of wherever you live and pop into a store you have never been inbefore.

And I want you to really stop and think about this for a second there are stores in your town you've never walkedinto.

You know I was referring to the fact that my husband and I lived in the Boston area for 26 years I lived near this town called nadek I was in nadek all the time I was driving through nadek all the time it has this adorable little downtown like main street area that's like two and a half blacksong.

I bet I never even walked into half those stores in 26 years and I'm sureif.

There's a person listening that owns one of the stores there that's hearing this you're just shaking your head like oh my god oh my god and you want to know somethingcrazy.

That when we moved to the area my husband and I way back in the day actually had a storefront on that main street we own a little paint your own pottery studio you know where you would go in and you sit with your kids and paint mobs and then we'd fire it in a kilm and even though I was a store owner on the main street that's two and a half blocks long I still didn't go into every one of the neighboringstores.

How insane is that but it's true you're the same way you know and if you think about your town or the neighboring town maybe it's a thrift store or clothing store or heck maybe there's a small grocery store you've never checked out or it's a store that you don't even know what the heck it's is or what they sell but you just drive by it you've always kind of thought oh you know I should stop in there we all have a store like that maybe maybe it's somebody who resells called old cars and you drive by you're like oh I need to stop by and check that out you've never stopped in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in and walked in 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We had no idea where wewere.

We were justexploring.

I'm here to tell you that is available to you that sense of adventure to the area that you live and all you got to do the next time you drive walk or bike is just turn down a newstreet.

Take adetour. You never know what you might see but I can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can guarantee you that you can I was going to a museumnearby.

It's one of my favorite things to do with mymom.

And so I had heard about this place called the Clark Art Institute which is youknow, about an hour away from where Ilive.

Oh myGod. I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the largest private art collections in the world is just an hour away from me and I had no idea that one of the inWilliamstown,Massachusetts, I'm talking a town of 7,000people.

They have an entire room of Renoir panics and by entireroom, I mean like 40 ofthem.

WinslowHomer,check.Degas,check.

Remington,check. All theimpressionists,check.

19 different rooms filled withpaintings,sculpture, andpaintings.

Theprints,drawings,photos, I mean it was jawdropping.

All the artists from the impressionist era that youknow.

Holy, I thought it was inEurope.

Oh, and did Imention. It's on 145 acres that are landscaped in this incredibleway.

I mean my jaw is still on thefloor.

My favorite portraitpainter, John SingerSergeant,check.

I mean I cannot believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not believe I did not know it was there and still I started to dig into what to do with myparents.

How did I not discover it was like I could not believe I had never been there and never donethat.

And there are things within an hour of you that will put your John the floor and tell you what now that I've been there and done that I'm going to go again andagain.

That's how amazing itwas.

And I still can't believe that as a matter of three days ago I'd never beenthere.

Imean, do you know how much shock and awe and amazement is just waiting for you to come findit.

That's why I want you to fill out thislist.

And the fourth way that you can keep filling out this never been there never done that list is by trying a new type of food or cooking somethingnew.

Now I'm a hugefoodie. I love love lovecooking.

I also love trying newrestaurants, whatever I'mtraveling.

I love just wandering down a street and discovering some hole in the wall or some incredible neighborhoodrestaurants.

Imean, isn't that like the best part of traveling wandering through the markets or the foodstands.

And so it does kind of beg thequestion.

If we love to do that when wetravel, why do you when I go to the same two restaurants everyweekend.

So you heard the research from the MIT neuroscientist tobituation.

You get really stuck in a routine and it dulls yoursenses.

I'm the sameway, but a great way to create a never been there never done that experience for yourself is to fill it with new places to eat new markets to shop and or a new recipe to try athome.

And so I'll give you an example lastmonth.

I did this really fun thing with our son Oakley Oakley has gotten really into cookinglately.

And he's been saying over and over again that he wants to learn how to make bread from scratch and not anybread.

He wants to learn how to bake sourdough bread and sourdough bread baking has been on my list forages, but never beenthere.

Never donethat. I've always madeexcuses.

I don't have enoughtime.

It's reallycomplicated.

We can buy great sourdough bread at the farmersmarkets.

So why on earth would I hassle with this when for $5 somebody who's an expert can do itbetter.

Hi,digress. I finally said to Oakley about a monthago.

Allright,Oak. Let's doit.

So we printed out an article on how you make thestarter, youknow, the kind of like yeasty really sour part of it fromscratch.

Imean, we went old school and my grandparents were immigrants fromAustria.

They owned a bakery and so I'mlike, I gotthis.

This is in myDNA. My grandmother made German and Austrian pastries her entire life sourdough not thatsimple.

Okay, just got to order not thatsimple.

So Oakley and I go through the process and we make the starter for the sourdoughbread.

Never beenthere. Never donethat.

This is a very tediousprocess.

This is a seven dayprocess.

Okay. You have to take like one part whiteflour, one part wheatflour.

You got to add a little waterin.

Then you got to let it sit like every day for the sevendays.

You're like looking atit.

You're stirringit. You're dividing it inhalf.

We get today for Imean, it'slike, having a newborn baby that you got to take care of and we're getting the hang ofit.

It's starting tobubble.

It's starting to double insize.

And I had to leave on day four to come down to Boston to do somework.

Guess who left the starterunattended?

Guess who didn't feed thebaby.

Guess who left the baby on thecounter?

Imean, this wasn't just astarter.

When Oakley and I did thisproject, I went on socialmedia.

I put up likephotographs.

You guys all kind of chimedin.

Fans of the show named ourstarter.

You want to know what the fans of the Mel Robyn podcast named our starterdoleene.

Yeah, really cute name doleene cute when I cameback.

That starter was not ready to bakebread.

That starter was dead dead as a doornow.

My son killed thestar. He actually put it outside in the jar to hide it fromme.

He knew he was introuble.

Now what I love about this story is that this is an example of a never beenthere.

Never done that adventure thatfail.

We didn't even make thebread.

But holy cow was itfun. You can even hear as I'm talking about it the boost in mymood,right?

You can hear theenergy.

The research is playingout.

It'strue. Simply planning to dosomething.

Oneboost. I got all excited looking for starterrecipes.

Doing the thing another boost and now I'm getting the third boost because I'm telling you a story about it and I'm kind of relivingit.

And here's another example of how simply trying a new place can change yourlife.

So a year ago I discovered one of my all time favorite coffee shop cafe places on theplanet.

Imean, I probably go to this place three times aweek.

I go forcoffee. I go formatcha.

I go for the homemadecroissants.

On the weekends my husband and I go out back and we have an Alfrescadinner.

Now here's thecatch. This place has been open for sevenyears.

I have driven past this place for sevenyears.

Why did I not goinside?Well, because my friend Jesse who I referred to toldme,oh, have you been to such and such and I waslike,no, what is thatplace?

And she'slike,oh, it's like a beergarden.

Theyserve, youknow, amazing beer and 10 tofish.

And I'mlike, why would I go to a place that serves beer in 10fish?

That soundsdisgusting.

Well, I'll tell you why because as my mothersaid, tryit.

You might like itseriously.

So I walk into this place oneday.

It turns out it's like beer garden in the back French pastry phenomenon in thefront.

They make the bestcoffee.

They have the single best croissants on the planet that they hand pull handroll.

They sell out within 15 minutes of the doors opening every Saturday andSunday.

I didn't realize that outback was not necessarily a beergarden.

It's like this Alfresca dining place where they make sourdough pizzas and like oysters andincredible.

It's like being in Napa Valley in my ownbackyard.

Oh myGod. I had dismissed it before I even triedit.

I was sowrong. And you're so wrong about a place that you keep drivingby.

So even if you'relike, I don't know how I feel aboutfondue.

I don't know if I like old cars added to the list and speaking of thelist, the final thing that you should add to your never beenthere, never done thatlist.

Join a sportsleague. Sign up for a community service group or volunteersomewhere.

And this is ahuge, huge thing todo, especially if you are in a newcity.

If you're young in a newcity, you want to know one of the best ways you can make newfriends.

Join a kickballleague.

You don't have to be anathlete.

Hell, you don't even have to be able to climb up a flight of stairs to be able to join a kickballleague.

You just showup. You makefriends.

Youlaugh. Hang outafterwards.

It is so muchfun. Another way to build community instantly and explore yourbackyard.

Volunteer. Youknow, our son Oakley had this experience freshman year in highschool.

He was after school and he wandered into the cafeteria because he thought he had forgotten something in there afterschool.

And these are his words notmine.

There are group of grandmas in the school cafeteria just chopping up a storm and cooking and and chatting away and Oakley walked up tothem.

He waslike,hey, what are youdoing?

And they explain that they are this organization called grateful hearts that takes all kinds of food donations from farmers markets andfarms.

And they then chop it all up and cook it all into people in our community who are foodinsecure.

So Oakley put down the book that he left in the cafeteria andsaid, can I help put on an apron and for four years he's been hanging out with the grandmas in our communities doing what they called chat and chop and cookingfood.

This is how we got interested incooking.

It changed his life because when youvolunteer, you not only feel connected with the othervolunteers, but you connect more deeply withyourself.

If you learn more about yourcommunity, so you could sign up to eat a localgarden.

You could be a hospicevolunteer.

That's what my husband Christ does every single Thursday he picks up meals from local restaurants that are donated and then he drives them and drops them off to hospice patients in and around the southern Vermontarea.

And chat and chop with all the grandmas like Oakley does you could help out at a 5k or a halfmarathon.

I could go on and on andon.

And if you don't know of any place tovolunteer, just look for the Facebook group for yourtown.

Go online call the town clerk's office walk into your local library and I guarantee you people will be filled withideas.

Adam to thelist. There you haveit.

You get five simple ways to start your never beenthere.

Never done thatadventure.

So let me remind you of themagain.

Go to a newstore. Drive walk or bike down a newstreet.

Go intomuseums, artgalleries,libraries.

Try a new type of food or cook a newrecipe.

It doesn't even have to begood.

Media okay is good enough because just doing something different shakes it up or join a sportsly a community service group orvolunteer.

Because you can shake thingsup.

You can be moreadventurous.

You can design and live a more purposefullife.

And you can do it in your ownbackyard.

Infact, your next adventure is just waiting foryou.

All you have to do is open that door and walkin.

And in case no one else tells you let me be the first person to tell you today that I love you and I believe inyou.

And I believe in your ability to create a betterlife.

And it starts with one never beenthere.

Never done thatlist.Alrighty, I'll talk to you in a fewdays.

My husband and I have never talked about this on thepodcast.

We used to have a little retailstore.

It was a paint your own potterystudio.

Everybody lovedit. It didn't make any money atall.

Let's go to theCaribbean.

Let's go to thePatagon.

Let's go to thecare. But let's be honest with eachother.

I've said that a coupletimes.

So I'm going tosay, but let's getreal.

Let's. Apparently there's also this place in another town over where there's thiscross.

Where there's thiscross.

Wherethis. And being able is thesecond.

Okay,sorry. Never beenthere.

Never doneit. Never beenthere.

Never donethat. Never beenthere.

Never donethat.Oh, and one morething.

I know this is not ablooper.

This is the legallanguage.

You know what the lawyers write and what I need to read toyou.

This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainmentpurposes.

I'm just yourfriend. I am not a licensed therapist and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of aphysician.

Professional coach psychotherapist or other qualified professional gotit.

Good. I'll see you in the nextepisode.