Before It Was Cool

Deep within, many humans are wired for discovering new things.

From a boy filled with joy after finding a new secret spot in the woods to teens finding bands their friends don’t know about to adults laying claim to countries and cities they’ve visited that not many other people know about.

You see this a lot in the travel community, with people shouting from the rooftops about how cool a place they’ve visited is, only to return later and lament how popular and different it is now.

No, now it’s not the same. But that was always the case. Everything is always changing. And if something isn’t growing it is in a state of decay.

There is a deeper level to the depressed discoverer though. For many people, being a part of a group of insiders who know something that others haven’t discovered yet, provides a real and important sense of meaning. It brings community, connection, and a sense of superiority over the ignorant majority. An “I was here first, so you all should respect me”, which when met with the bland indifference of new discoverers is a cause of great distress.

When you notice yourself feeling bummed about how something has changed, there is a two-part lesson.

If you’re really feeling it, it is a signal that you need bigger more important things to be dealing with in your life. The second, is that it is a push to go deeper. If you’re wired to love discovering new things and now everyone knows about your latest discovery, that is a win. That is the point. You can’t rest on the laurels of your one discovery, you need to venture further out and find something new, something radical that hasn’t yet crossed the chasm.