Do What You Don’t.

You’ll be amazed at what happens when you do. 

Lately I’ve found that I’ve started  stepping out of my comfort zone, especially when it comes to doing things I wouldn’t normally do or be into.

I realised a couple of years ago that I wasn’t as good at that as I should have been when it came to relationships.

I can recount several times that I’ve been with a friend that’d maybe suggest something to do that they’re really interested in and I’d mentally cringe away from and try to avoid doing at all costs.

It was obviously very selfish of me to do so when I was younger and of course I didn’t realise it then. But as Fleetwood Mac write in their soothing guitar record Landslide,

“Time makes you bolder, children get older and I’m getting older too.”

Basically what I’m trying to say is that since then I’ve noticed that I’ve really tried to push myself to do things that I normally wouldn’t do for the people in my life that ask me to because they enjoy them.

It’s kind of hard to explain with words but I can always do my best.

But why I’m writing about this and why it is of any significance at all is because I’ve noticed and discovered that it makes me significantly happier and aswell as the people I do these things for.

The sole purpose of this piece is to inspire and encourage others to do the same (there I finally managed to condense it down to a sentence!).  To reach out of your comfort zones, grab life by the clitoris and do what you don’t.

Shall we begin?

This is me if you haven’t already guessed.

Or rather, this is me with a bunch of cows in the background.

You see one of my best friends is huge into agriculture and farming. He’s been this way since he was a young boy and now that he’s finally old enough he lavishes the time he spends out with his cows, driving his tractor, doing odd jobs, etc.

So the last couple of years, whenever I go over to his house to visit, he always does be doing stuff like this when I go around for the day.

Now I don’t know if you’ve already figured this but me and this guy are essentially as different as chalk and cheese. Or so we have been told anyway.

I am all into tech, hip hop music, pop culture, writing. This guy, like I said, is farming mad, loves country music and  drinks his tea with the tea-bag still in it. So as you can imagine I find it really interesting when I go over to his house and do random things. I think he worries that I get bored when I visit but that’s actually never the case.

This is his tractor.

Every time I go over to his house now it is the tradition that we drive this vehicle through a field of his at least once in the day.

The last time I was over, I actually found myself driving this yoke and he would call it. Now, I have no interest in driving whatsoever. I can actually envision myself using public transport for the rest of my life. But this guy loves it.

One of our earliest and fondest memories as friends is actually us driving a quad into the side of a hedge and both getting flung off it. I got off lucky but somehow the quad landed on the poor lad’s leg. My dad had to race over pull the quad off of him. It’s almost always guaranteed to be laughed about whenever we meet.

It was pretty cool to end up driving. One of the things that I would usually never imagine myself doing.

This is me wearing wellies. 

I don’t wear wellies.

Incase you haven’t picked up on it I live a mostly secluded life in a magical and warm environment called ‘inside’.

I always have, I always will.

But every tine I go to this guy’s place I am guaranteed to have to romp around fields, in rivers, at the edges of lakes and down country lanes.

Last time I went I even found myself trying to avoid sink holes in a fucking bog.

A fucking bog guys.

If you know me at all you’ll know that I am really cautious and always prioritize safety.

Jumping from marsh to marsh only using rotten branches to aid my balance combined with the possibility that I could die by falling and sinking into the ground if I’m not careful, which is more than likely for someone accident prone and clumsy as me, is not fucking safe.

But in the spirit of ‘doing what I don’t’ I went along with it and you know what? I’m still here to tell the tale.

Sometimes in life your going to have to venture out of your comfort zone. Nine times out of ten that happens when I visit my best friend. I do what I don’t and it feels so fucking good.

That’s me feeding a bull a carrot. 

Now I’m really cautious in general. But around big animals such as this fucking bull? I’m super doooper cautious. Animals are unpredictable by nature and as a rule of thumb with big animals I always just keep my distance and don’t take my eye off of them whatsoever.

The time before last that I was over I had to visit this guy I had to help ‘dose a calf’. Probably one of the more scarier things I’ve had to do.

I’m stuck inside this little square standing beside the cast iron gate you see up above with about 3 or four full-grown cows and two calfs. Literally on the other side of the gate is the rest of the heard and the bull very close by.  A cow or two has it’s back to me and I’m scared shitless worrying that if things go bad and one of these cows tries charge at me or kick me all I have is a fucking cast iron gate to protect me and a fucking bull on the other side of the gate I’d be hopping over to get to safety.

Once again I miraculously am still alive to tell the tale.

Finally, this is a fancy photograph I took and edited of the two of us standing in a river. 

Those are his wellies if you can make them out in the foreground. I’m the one taking the photo if you haven’t figured that out yet.

The last time I was over we went exploring for a good while during the day. Through fields, hedges and even rivers. It was actually pretty surreal if I was completely honest. Just standing in the water and listening to it flow. The occasional chirp of a bird interrupting our moments of silence. It occurred to me in that moment that I really am blessed to have a friend like this guy.  Who the hell else would get me doing all these things??

So do you finally understand the feeling I’m trying to write about here?

Being pushed outside your comfort zone and forced to do things you normally wouldn’t is scary and challenging. But at the same time it’s really fucking fun and far better than a day spent inside surfing the internet and looking at dumb shit.

Ever since this realisation I have been making an honest attempt to do what I don’t. Because I think it’s one of the best ways to explore new interests and hobbies and just in general have a good time.

I do what I don’t because I know now what can happen if I do.

Anything. 

And now that I’ve explained this phenomenon I hope that you know too and can consider giving it a try. If not for my sake then for the sakes of your friends who you’ve been denying all these years.

Haha, I’m just kidding.

I don’t think you were as mean as me to do as I did when you were younger. At least I hope not… 😐

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Thanks for sticking round until the end. I hope you enjoyed that piece of writing.

If you want to e-mail me with any feedback or questions I’d love to get some. You can contact me over on kidmentalist@gmail.com

You can also follow my blog Kid Mentalist and check out some of the other content on here.

As well as that you can leave a comment under this blog post with your thoughts if you’d like. Or if you don’t want to do that you can tweet me on Twitter @kidmentalist. 

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Finally you can check out ‘Mobile’ which is a page I created on here that contains little tweet like bursts of thoughts.

SHAMELESS PLUGS FINISHED!

Until next time,

Stay posted.

K.M