My most memorable moments are from unexpected experiences. For me, these moments are my secret source of new inspiration. After talking with people from different backgrounds, I realized that inspiration doesn’t come from what you already know. Inspiration comes from what you don’t know. Connecting the dots between everything you discover with all your unique experiences will lead you to new inspiration.

I think social media has ruined the discovering process. When we want to go to some place, we have already searched the internet to see what other people’s experiences were. Before we discover something new, we have already made up our expectations. For me, these expectations are the deal breakers for inspiration. Most of the time I set my expectations way too high, which results in mayor disappointment.

To make sure I’m not disappointed, I just try not to set my expectations too high. However, going to do something new without expectations is scary. And I think getting out of your comfort zone without any form of safety net isn’t the wise thing to do. So, first I want to make sure I can slowly get out of my comfort zone without shooting myself in the leg.

How to get out of your comfort zone without shooting yourself in the leg

To get out of my comfort zone without without shooting myself in the leg, I first try to identify my own bubbles. What does my average day look like? Who are the people I talk with? What things are some people doing that I think are totally ridiculous? Then, I try to find ways to burst my own bubbles. Sometimes slowly, like a deflating balloon swirling uncontrollably through the air. Sometimes with a loud bang. But always, it will involve other people. Let me explain.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at start to change. For me, this almost always comes with a different point of views from different people. Some things might be strange to me, but everyday life for someone else. Does this make the other person crazy? Maybe. But most probably not.

You, me, everybody. We all crave personal attention. We all want people to listen to us. We all want to be heard. We all want to matter. That is part of our psychological needs. So, for me by far the easiest way to get out of my comfort zone, is to open myself up to someone’s story. Listen. Ask questions. Give my full attention.

When I show people I’m interested in their story something magical happens. As I open up to different points of view I start to see what that there are many worlds. We might have one planet, but there are many different worlds inside this planet. As I started to experience different lifestyles and cultures, I started to slowly burst my bubbles.

I have experienced that “A-ha” moments after getting out of my comfort zone and letting my own bubbles burst. Moments that are memorable. Moments that I look back at with a big fat uncontrollable smile. All starting from experiences that were unexpected by stepping out of my comfort zone. I started to see new possibilities. I started to get more confident.

So, let’s start with getting out of your comfort zone and burst some bubbles.

• How to Burst Your Bubbles in Your Daily Life
• How to Burst Your Bubbles while Traveling

How to Burst Your Bubbles in Your Life

 Are you waiting in line? Are you traveling by public transport? Taking a massive dump in the small room? I will bet you are looking on your phone. Maybe you are not even aware of it. Have you ever wondered why you have the best ideas when you are in the shower? Maybe because showers are the best. But more probably because you have a solid 5 minutes without looking at you phone.

I found that the easiest thing to do to burst my bubbles in everyday life is by staying off my phone. Waiting in line? Look around what other people are doing. Sitting on a bus? Look outside the window. Clouds can be beautiful too. Taking a dump? Stop swiping through tinder. Focus on that rare, majorly underrated one whiper.

I have the hardest time to not pick up my phone when I have one second I’m not doing something. Social media algorithms and advertising are designed to keep our attention. Checking our phone constantly gives us small rewards like a Pavlov reaction.

For me, checking my phone has become a bad habit and I have a hard time to control it. The continuous updates, providing for artificial dopamine hits are too damn strong. To take the force into my own hands I try to do things that keep me from getting on my phone and noticing more what is happening in the world around me.

How to Burst Your Bubbles while Traveling

I love traveling. It gives me the sense of freedom. Before a trip I look forward to the change of setting and pace. I think about trying new food, seeing something that I find strange but compelling at the same time. And the best memories I have from traveling is when I had a good conversation with someone from a totally different culture.

Internet has unfortunately taken away some of the magic of traveling. Or maybe it already started with the Lonely Planet. Now we can look up in advance where we want to go, what we want to do. Painting ourselves a perfect picture. Only to let our expectations totally be ruined by the complete lack of authenticity. Everything becomes same same, but different.

Everywhere place we go that we have found on the internets, leads us to a gathering of the same people. Mostly, we are lead to other places with other (western) tourists that are there for the selfie. Just as a proof that they have been there and done that.

For some places I get it. The Taj Mahal, The Pyramids, The Baobab trees. But most places are just a bit of the same. For me, what makes a place special are not the tourist. It’s the people living in a place that make it special. The way they look at the world is probably totally different than what you believe to be true, or false for that matter.

When I travel to some place new, I try not to look up too many details about the place. Sure I want some security of having a place to stay, but other than that, I like to just go with the flow. Instead of looking up on TripAdvisor on where to eat, I search for downtown places that is packed with locals. Instead of searching on Google what sightseeing I need to do, I try to ask locals what they think is interesting in their town. Instead of going out with fellow western travellers, I try to have a fun night with locals and doing what they would do on an average Saturday night.

I always start with things I’m interested in and search for locals to see how they do things. Below are some examples of what I search for when I visit a place.

Now, go out and about and start bursting some bubbles.

I will continue with practical tips on how to stay curious and increase your knowledge and skills in a much faster and more fun way than you had in school: Stay Curious.