The Return of 500 New Things

One thing I’ve wanted to try again in 2025 was my challenge to do 500 new things in a year. My previous attempt went well; I got to around 430 before tapping out for the holidays. The challenge worked as a great excuse to force myself to get out and break from the rut of the same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Especially with work being remote now, I find it very easy to just sit inside all day and maybe head out to go to the same spots to pick up lunch. My level of inactivity this year was pretty bad and this’ll be a good kick in the butt to get out there and explore the world more.

The funny thing about this challenge - which I invite everyone else to attempt, even if it’s just 100 new things or one new thing a week, or whatever you’re comfortable with - is that one of the first things that people do when they hear about it is try to litigate the rules. It’s crazy to me how people feel the need to put their own mark on something that has nothing to do with them. It’s my challenge! If you do it, it’s YOUR challenge, nobody else needs to judge it. If it gets you out of the house or helps you expand your world in some way, it’s a win!

As for rules, I don’t have a ton of set rules but there has to be some sort of time investment for a new thing to count. For instance, for music, I count concerts of bands I’ve never seen live before but not new songs. I didn’t count albums last year and probably still won’t this time but I could see how others would allow it. For a TV show to count, I need to watch at least 5 episodes. For bars, I need to stay for about an hour. One odd one is that I counted new shoe brands but not new clothing brands. I just feel like there’s a bigger difference when it comes to shoes. But I’d need to wear the shoes for a good week before counting them. Books have to be completed to count. When it came to food products, I played it by ear. New hot sauces counted; if I just bought a different brand of steak or chicken wings, I didn’t count it.

The other good thing about this challenge is that it promotes travel because there’s no better way to knock out a ton of new things a day than to go to a different city. Even a nearby town you never visit offers a lot of opportunities to knock out New Things.

The one warning I’d give to anyone attempting this is to not get TOO focused on it. There were times when I first did it that I’d get annoyed with friends if they wanted to go to one of our usual spots because IT’S NOT SOMETHING NEW! Especially near the end of the year, the challenge was adding a little agita to my life, which is why I tapped out; that’s the opposite of what the challenge is supposed to do. So if you start the challenge and it feels like a burden, I’d recommend dialing down the amount of new things you want to try or change the timeframe up. We’ve all got so much going on in our lives; this is supposed to add fun, not another annoyance. (Honestly, 500 is probably too aggressive but hey, not reaching that number isn’t really a failure if the challenge gets me to try a lot of new things.)

The hope is that I’ll keep blogging and keep tally of my new things here.

Anyway, everyone is invited to join the challenge or create their own in 2025!