My month of living without being a homebody

January was my month to live without being a homebody. The replacement habit I chose was to go out on more local adventures. My goal for this month was to go out and do something at least once each day that I had off from work, even if just for an hour or two. This is what happened...

I finally went to downtown San Jose's 1920's inspired speakeasy bar, 'Singlebarrel'. I have been wanting to check this place out since I turned 21 and I'm glad I finally did. It's an awesome place to catch up with some friends (if you like to actually hear each other's conversation) and to grab a fantastic drink made specifically with your tastes in mind. I went bowling for the first time in 5 years and have since been eager to head back for some black light bowling. I went out to watch a couple Shark's games over dinner and drinks. That included my first time at a less than mediocre Applebee's (only because I had a gift card) and my first time at the very delicious High Five Pizza. I took an archery class and discovered just how easy it would be to make my fantasy of owning and shooting my own bow come true. I then purchased my own recurve bow and took a second archery class. I started going hiking again since living in Monterey and I even went on a few solo hikes and checked out a couple of local hiking spots that I had never been to before, including Rancho San Antonio. I caught up with my friend Sara who I lost touch with several years ago and we made plans to be adventure buddies in the future. I also made a lot of future plans and signed up for some pretty cool events in the months ahead. Adventure awaits!

This month I learned that I've allowed myself to get wrapped up so tight in my own life and it became easy for me to convince myself that I didn't have the time or energy for much else. I didn't exactly meet my goal of going out into the world every day that I had off from work, but who doesn't have a day or two when they just want to snuggle with their furrballs on the couch and watch garbage TV all day. Despite my couple of hiccups I am still very happy with the progress I've made, however; at the end of the day I'm OK with the fact that I enjoy being at home. Home will always be where I am most comfortable. It's where I lay my head at night and therefore it should be a sanctuary, but I am choosing to not be a homebody anymore. I had way more fun spending time with my boyfriend and friends doing simple things outside of home and discovering new things that my city has to offer. This experiment also proved how easy it is to make time for friends and activities that are outside of my normal everyday life with just a little bit of motivation.

Stay tuned for February's post about my month of living without stress.