Month / February 2023

by Ricardo Sanchez

Allowing yourself to try something new

For years, my favorite drink of choice in the mornings and the evenings has been coffee. But occasionally, enjoy a hot cup of tea, specifically chamomile tea. That is the only tea that I would drink.

A few days ago, as I was about to start organizing some of my photos after dinner, I decided to get a cup of tea. To my surprise, the chamomile tea was gone, nada. And for the first time, I decided to try one of the many other teas we have at home. I felt brave, walked to the pantry, and grabbed some black tea. It was wonderful. A few days later, we were still out of chamomile tea, and I again picked a different tea, masala chai. It was even better than the simple black tea.

While taking advantage of different tea flavors is unimportant, this simple activity made me wonder how many other things I have missed for not wanting to try new things. I consider myself open-minded and a person who seeks new experiences, but I could be more of an explorer when it comes to daily life and work.

I noticed that when I’m home, I often eat the same things, watch the same stuff, spend time the same way, etc. When traveling, I often try new things, spend my time out and about, and work is often better. My experience while at home is what we usually call a routine. A routine in itself is not a bad thing. Having a routine helps me stay focused, productive, and happy. But adding some variety to it helps sparks creativity and even happiness.

You can have a routine and still try a new approach to working or spending your day. My goal is not to stay in my comfort zone, at least not in the areas where I want to experience and learn more. It all starts with small decisions, a different tea flavor, a different approach to a problem at work, reading a book on a topic I wouldn’t choose before, etc. Exposing yourself to new things can expand your world and perspective and make life, even the routine, more interesting.

We are still out of chamomile tea a week later, and it is okay.

by Ricardo Sanchez

My bookstore addiction

Do you like bookstores? I do, and apparently, many other people do too. Why? A bookstore is a place full of wonder and imagination. Each book can be a window into a different world, a unique story, perspective, or something new to learn. Walking around bookstores feeds my motivation to continue reading, learning, discovering, and writing. Books and magazines are, for me, more interesting than social media. There’s something about its staticity; it’s a written memory or thought captured and shared via a book or a moment captured in time via a photo in a magazine.

Bookstores are a place of happiness for me. The problem is, it is also a place where I can compulsively buy books and magazines and then not read them in a while—why? Is this a problem for you too? I do read a lot, and I mean a lot. Since late last year, I started the idea of reading a book per week, and I’ve been able to do it for the most part. Of course, I have skipped a few weeks here and there due to having a great time on holiday with the family. But even with all that reading, I still have a reading queue that keeps increasing due to buying books and magazines almost every time I walk into one of these beautiful, magical places we call bookstores.

The good news is I am balancing my reading with writing and note-taking. Reading without the writing or note-taking part is just entertainment, which is OK too. Most books I read have something in them that I want to remember or use in my daily life, and that happens even with fiction books. I am learning a simple way to develop my second brain to help me memorize pieces of information that I want to refer to later. I’ll share more details about this in a future post.

One of my current projects is to create a photo book showcasing bookstores from around the world, displaying photos of the outside and the bookstore interiors. I want to capture their essence as much as possible. And while one picture is worth a thousand words, I plan to write a few paragraphs describing each bookstore, my experience, and other information about its location, history, etc.

I have been taking photos of every bookstore I visit around the world, and already have a nice collection of pictures. I will continue to visit bookstores whenever I have a chance. This project was and will continue to be an excuse to visit as many bookstores as possible.

This photo book project will probably be done by the end of this year and depending on how I feel about it, I might continue working on it one way or another. A website where I keep adding bookstore photos and description is also an option.

Maybe one day I will satisfy my hunger for bookstores by opening my own, but it is perhaps the experience of traveling and visiting different bookstores that I enjoy.