Why it matters: Small novel choices are how we mark time as meaningful instead of letting weeks disappear into 'just another Friday.' Novelty can be as unassuming as making a small, simple choice that leads to big, interesting outcomes. Sometimes the change of a route, the change of a restaurant, or the change of an order can be a small, novel choice that can be the nudge you need to live a life out of the norm.
The gentleman from the table next to mine leaned over and said “you are going to love this.”
The lights were dimmed, the theme song from the Godfather started to play, and the room was humming in anticipation.
“WTF is happening?”, we wondered.
It was a Friday night, and I was at a Mexican restaurant with one of my closest friends, both of us exhausted from the week and simply looking for a little comfort food to celebrate having made it to the end of the week.
I do not know how to describe what happened over the next 15 minutes.
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First, a Congo line started. Seems mildly charming but not alarming. Then, The Mask made an appearance. Yes. THE Mask. And he was club dancing? Shimmying, shaking, and jirating to the music. There were women standing up to join him, some waving him over to get a little more……. personal.
And then he ended up dancing on the bar. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
My friend and I were trapped. Dancing all around us, waiters and waitresses having abandoned their typical jobs to join the mayhem, ahem, I mean, festivities.
Neon-colored shots were brought out on a fish-shaped stand and given to a table of patrons. Were they even ordered or is this part of the show!?
Then there was the bongo drum. A very talented waiter had a red-light, glowing bongo drum that he practically samba-ed around the entire restaurant with, never missing a beat.
It was like a 15-minute fever dream of club-meets-restaurant-meets gimmick-meets-salsa-club?
Why? We asked. Why is this happening here? It doesn’t make any sense. And it seemed like absolute chaos.
But to be honest, people were really into it! Like the table next to us, they had come expressly for this moment: wanting a dinner, a show, and a club all in one (their words, not mine).
I wasn’t trying to find novelty that night, I was just trying to find dinner. But no rest for the weary, I suppose.
It reminded me that, when one is open to finding novelty, experiences slightly out of the norm, it opens you to all kinds of new possibilities.
We were both exhausted, just trying to relax after another week. But here's what I realized: choosing the same comfort every time keeps us comfortable, but it also keeps time moving in an undifferentiated blur. That 15-minute fever dream? I'll remember it in 20 years. Last Friday's dinner at the usual spot? Already forgotten. Small novel choices are how we mark time as meaningful instead of letting weeks disappear into 'just another Friday.’
Here’s the series of small choices that led to this crazy moment:
My friend and I were delayed in meeting up earlier by a last minute phone call I was on, pushing our meeting by half an hour.
We were going to go to our old faithful favorite Mexican haunt, when as we were pulling out of my driveway, I remembered that there was this new option I had been wanting to share with my food-loving friend.
We got an appetizer, pushing the dinner longer by juuuuuuust a bit.
We were ready for the check, and instead of flagging down the waiter we decided to just wait until he naturally came back (which he did not do until after the festive mayhem).
None of these were big decisions. They were small moments that led to a big moment. Or at least an unusual moment.
Trying to get into the chaos…
…and happy to have made a memory.
My friend and I will forever have seared in our memories that we got stuck in the middle of a wild congo-line-club-party. Not only did we talk about it for the rest of the night, but I know this is something that will not fade quietly.
This is something I love about novelty: the way it can give you inside jokes and shared experiences, deepening the bond we share with others. It does not allow us to stay surface-level, but encourages a deeper, more organic way to form connections for those who enter in with you.
And it’s truly simpler than it seems. It was just a few minor decisions that resulted in this outcome.
The magic isn’t in The Mask showing up, it's in being open enough for small choices to lead somewhere you didn't plan. That's how we practice becoming human-centric at home. One choice at a time.
To be honest, I don’t know if this is the kind of novelty I was hoping to find, but it certainly does keep things interesting.
If you find yourself in an unexpectedly similar situation, let me give you some numbers to decide if you want to stay and participate. Here’s my rating of the novelty experience:
Accessibility: ⭐ (this kind of experience was very spontaneous, and I don’t know if I could tell you where to find it)
Cost: 💰💰 (the cost of a restaurant in your city)
Joy: 😊😊 (not the most fun for me, but big fun for others!)
Talk soon,
Rachel
Leadership trainer, novelty junkie, and human being
P.S. Want to see what led me to this? Check out this post and read more in-depth about the Novelty Experiment.
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