Posted October 5, 2023

Woman Discovers 365 Reasons to Better Life

The pandemic was a complicated time, with many trying to find any form of peace throughout the chaos, and for Jess Mell of Surrey, England, it was no different. Anxiety, depression, and mental health, in general, are not easy topics to discuss, let alone something to be going through. With a continued stint of struggle, Jess decided to mix things up in an effort to live a better life—deciding to try something new every day for 100 days.

As Good News Network reports, Jess pushed out of her comfort zone doing everything from bleeding a radiator, using a sewing machine, to even joining a gardening group. After reaching the hundredth day, and seeing a positive evolution in her mental health, she decided to take it one step further. Finding time to do one new thing every day was not always easy, so she
adjusted the goal to simply doing 365 new things throughout the year. She really kept it going, even doing some traveling, visiting neighboring European cities like Vienna, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, and Krakow. As the year came to an end, she thought
to do something a little more out there. “I wanted to finish it off with something exciting, so in the end, I finished up by convincing my dad to let me sit on the roof of his car as he drove down the road,” she said. “My final one was making my first ever Instagram reel of some of the things I’d done in the year.”

Jess also shared, “There’s still a lot more I want to try…What has been so nice about the whole experience has been that whenever I’ve thought, ‘I could try that’, rather than putting it off, I just ask myself, ‘why don’t I’.” We’re adding her partial list below. Who knows? Maybe you’ll try a few yourself. Thanks for the inspiration, Jess, and for showing us just a few ways to positively impact our mental health and wellbeing.

Here are some of the things she tried:
1. Got Instagram
2. Watched ET
3. Made a lampshade
4. Grew a plant from seed
5. Bled a radiator
6. Tried origami
7. Went to hot yoga
8. Dyed my hair pink
9. Did 1000 piece jigsaw by myself
10. Made muffins
11. Visited an aircraft hangar
12. Used the “scary” gym equipment
13. Got a henna tattoo
14. Watched the Great Escape
15. Learned how to tie various types of knots
16. Learned to shuffle cards
17. Went to a life drawing class
18. Completed a paint by numbers
19. Learned to pick a lock
20. Made/ate a vegan meal
21. Hung a picture on the wall
22. Learned to sew a button
23. Learned some British Sign Language
24. Went to a board game club
25. Learned to change indicator light bulbs in my car
26. Tried a Guinness
27. Joined a community volunteer group
28. Ate using chopsticks
29. Attended a first aid course
30. Went to the British Library
31. Had an Espresso Martini
32. Used a sewing machine
33. Poached an egg
34. Played chess
35. Successfully completed some monkey bars
36. Went to the Tate Modern museum
37. Changed a car wheel (or helped to!)
38. Played golf
39. Made a pizza from scratch
40. Did a French braid
41. Whittled some wood
42. Learned a simple tap routine
43. Tried to whistle with my fingers – couldn’t do it loudly!
44. Made a rainbow cake
45. Tried embroidery
46. Bowled without bumpers
47. Visited a Mormon Temple
48. Tried to start a fire without matches – failed!
49. Tried soldering
50. Went on my first solo trip
51. Went to Belfast/Northern Ireland for the first time
52. Made butternut squash soup
53. Tried knitting
54. Drove a van
55. Upcycled an old stool
56. Went paddle boarding
57. Tried papier mache
58. Visited St Paul’s Cathedral
59. Fixed my bathroom plug
60. Attempted to learn to play the ukulele (gave up!)
61. Watched a foreign film without subtitles
62. Went on my first solo trip outside of the UK
63. Made jam from scratch
64. Fed a tortoise
65. Made tapas from scratch, including a Spanish tortilla
66. Tried sherry
67. Joined an outdoor fitness class
68. Went on an organized walk
69. Made banana bread
70. Tried Geocaching
71. Went to a butterfly house
72. Visited Krakow, Poland
73. Tried local dish, pierogi
74. Went on an e-scooter
75. Went to a poetry reading session
76. Tried bubble tea
77. Tried Zumba
78. Did a proper tequila shot
79. Tried reflexology
80. Did a solo escape room
81. Went to a local town’s museum
82. Learned a magic trick
83. Ate fish eggs
84. Used a bidet
85. Tried teeth whitening strips
86. Saw the changing of the guard
87. Sat on someone’s shoulders
88. Watched Tower Bridge going up
89. Tried a gooseberry
90. Made my own protein bars
91. Went to an outdoor cinema screening
92. … And watched Casablanca for the first time
93. Went to a hot air balloon show
94. Had a beekeeping experience afternoon
95. Watched a jousting tournament
96. Tried plantain
97. Gave blood
98. Made a scarecrow
99. Swam in the sea during a storm
100. Had a birds of prey experience afternoon
101. Went on a tractor ride
102. Tried pumpkin spiced latte
103. Went to a casino
104. Went to an Oktoberfest
105. Finally worked out how to screen cast from my phone to the TV
106. Watched and painted along to a Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
107. Made ice cream
108. Saw the Little Mermaid statue
109. Went pumpkin picking
110. Went to puppy yoga
111. Watched Hocus Pocus for the first time
112. Went on a Murder Mystery Train experience
113. Ran up a downwards escalator
114. Drove a Tesla
115. Went to a sketch comedy show
116. Went to an ice hockey match
117. Made a key lime pie
118. Tried mulled cider
119. Toasted a marshmallow on a fire
120. Pulled a pint in a pub
121. Snapped a wishbone
122. Attended an online cookery class
123. Tried curling
124. Caught a grape in my mouth
125. Streaked!
126. Went line dancing
127. Went speed dating

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