I’ve been thinking a lot lately about being an interesting person and living a fulfilling life. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t feel like I have so far. My life feels fairly average and I feel like I haven’t gone through a lot of adventures. It’s something I would definitely like to change.
I was at a group interview for a retail position several years ago and the interviewers asked us to tell them something interesting about ourselves. I thought that seemed easy enough at first. I must have something interesting to say. As people went around saying their interesting facts, it occurred to me that I really had nothing to say. There was nothing about my life that seemed particularly wild or interesting. Several years passed and I still felt the same way. It’s become more important to me recently to develop skills and live my life a little more adventurous, because I want my life to be interesting and I want to feel like I’m interesting.
In high school and even in college, you want to fit in. You want to be like other people so that you don’t stand out too much and you can make friends easier. But once you get into your twenties, you start to want the opposite. You want to find out who you actually are. You want to be unique in an authentic way. You’ve spent so much time with your friends that you’re probably still not sure who you actually are. I’ve been finding myself a lot through the past few years.
I think I’m finally starting to feel a bit more interesting and a bit more sure of myself. It’s a long journey and I’m not sure we are even 100% sure of ourselves, but the progress along the way is the best part anyway.
Here is what I believe you can do to be an interesting person.
Find your Passion
Passionate people are always interesting to me. I don’t care if you’re passionate about bugs or psychics (both of which I definitely don’t have an interest in), listening to someone who has true passion is fascinating. Finding a passion is difficult, so when I see it happen, I light up for that person. If you’re still looking for your passion, start exploring your interests more and give them a lot of your energy. You might spark some passion in yourself that you didn’t know existed.
Travel/Live with an Adventurous Spirit
You don’t have to travel the world to be interesting. But, I do think a sense of adventure and exploration is interesting. You can gain the best stories by doing adventurous activities that most people won’t do. Traveling can make you interesting, because you explore places that are vastly different from your home. You meet new people and experience new things you’d never be able to do in your city.
Keep an Open Mind
The most interesting people are the most interested people. People who find things interesting are much more interesting than people who don’t care. They read. They learn. They care about improving themselves and they care about doing more. Open-minded people are much more interesting to me than close-minded people. Be open to the beauty of different opinions and lifestyles. It doesn’t mean you need to explore them all, but you can be interested in learning about them.
Be Spontaneous (Sometimes)
Being a planner is great, but sometimes planning everything out makes it so your life can start feeling a little too scheduled. You can even plan for spontaneity if you want to. But do some things that are out of your comfort zone. The magic happens outside of your comfort zone, right? You don’t need to go crazy with this, but surprise yourself occasionally. You can still stay true to yourself with a little touch of added spontaneity.
Join Something New
This is a goal of mine this year. I want to step out of my comfort zone and join something. When you’re not in school anymore, it can seem a lot harder to do this. But there are many ways to be a part of your community. There are apps like Meetup that allow you to join up with strangers with common interests. I think it’s important to make the effort to be involved in something outside of yourself.
Volunteer
I think one of the best ways to be interesting is to give back. Your perspective will change and having an impact on other people’s lives will enrich your world. It will give you something to talk about and fill you with joy for spending your time doing something valuable. It might also inspire the people around you to do the same.
Let’s go out and have seventy interesting facts about ourselves when asked that question again. Explore, create, and live an adventurous life.
