The Benefits of Fasting from Novelty

When we choose to fast from something (this could be anything in your life), we discipline ourselves for a short period of time in order to reset our desires. SergeBertasiusPhotography/Shutterstock

Whether you’re a homebody who seeks comfort or a thrill-seeker who thrives on new opportunities, most of us find the idea of novelty beneficial in some way.

Our brains are attracted to pretty things, new possibilities, exciting adventures, or even something as simple as a new smell or sound.

It’s a break from the ordinary, the intrigue of something new, a deviation from the familiar. Dopamine pathways are activated when novelty is embraced, which acts as a motivator and triggers those feel-good chemicals in our brains.

Novelty can be a welcomed disruption to our daily routine. It allows us to gain just the right amount of enjoyment to awaken our senses and break out of the routine that life sometimes places us in.

But even though novelty is beneficial and allows us to accept new challenges and experience some positive volatility, we can run the risk of creating too much of it, and run the risk of losing our appreciation for it’s benefits.

When novelty becomes ordinary

My 6-year old daughter, Sophie, got a new baby doll for Christmas from her grandmother. This baby was no ordinary doll– she could suck a pacifier, talk in several different languages, and her hair even grew as she turned from a baby into a toddler.

The doll was the object of her affection for many months, unlike any other toy in her collection.

Half a year later, she still adored the toy. Requesting to buy another doll similar to this one with her saved up piggy bank money, I agreed because of how much joy I’ve seen it bring her. I thought, if one doll brings her this much pleasure, surely two will bring an even greater amount.

Once the new doll came, it was as if the novelty of a talking, eating, diaper wetting doll had just become ordinary, no longer unique.

One day I asked her, “Why don’t you play with your special dolls much anymore? You love them.” “I’m too used to them now,” she answered.

The novelty had worn off and those once fascinating dolls had become just another one of her toys on her shelf.

Gaining by taking away

I believe this situation of novelty becoming ordinary happens more than we think.

We embrace something new, something exciting. But instead of keeping it novel and limiting it’s exposure in our lives, we try to add more of it, hoping to keep the thrill of novelty alive.

You eat out at a restaurant several times a week, and it no longer feels exciting.

You buy a fancy latte from a coffee shop each morning, and eventually even that gourmet cup of coffee begins to feel ordinary and expected.

You buy new pieces of clothing each time you get a paycheck and then begin to lose appreciation for what’s in your closet because you have so much.

The solution, I believe, to holding onto novelty before it becomes ordinary is through fasting– not merely in terms of food and diet, but through planned breaks from many parts of life that bring us pleasure.

When we choose to fast from something (this could be anything in your life), we discipline ourselves for a short period of time in order to reset our desires. Fasting removes an object temporarily in order to make the long term pleasures more sustainable.

Benefits of fasting

When we place a conscious limit on an area in our life, we choose to give our minds and bodies a rest from that particular activity.

In a similar way that sleep allows our bodies to have a healthier immune system, reduced stress, and more concentration— rest from other areas in our lives gives several different benefits as well.

More gratefulness for what we have.

A renewed appreciation for life’s free pleasures.

A healthy balance between stimulation and boredom.

A realization that living more simply results in less stress and more happiness.

So consider this thought– think of the areas in your life (non-relational) that bring you pleasure, and see how you can preserve that pleasure through fasting, or giving an intentional break from them.

Choose a few areas to start

Eating Out. When I eat out too many times each month, it begins to lose some of it’s novelty. Not only is it usually less healthy than eating at home, but more expensive and the thrill of eating out begins to dwindle. Try limiting your eating out to just once a week or less and choose to eat at the restaurants that provide you with lasting enjoyment.

Social Media. Every time I take a break from social media, it allows me to feel more productive and less consumed with an overload of content. I’ve taken week and month long breaks and they’ve each served a purpose. Try fasting for a weekend, a week, or even a month. See how you can use that time to be present with others around you, and come back with renewed enjoyment.

Television. There have been seasons of life where turning on the TV after we put the kids to bed was a natural tendency. A few years ago, we decided to limit our TV watching and instead save our screen time for one or two nights a week. It’s made our evenings much more enjoyable and meaningful and we save our TV watching for the weekend, when we can look forward to a good movie, documentary, or tv show that we’ve been looking forward to watching.

Shopping. It didn’t fully occur to me how much we bought on a monthly basis until I noticed how many times the Amazon van was at our house. This summer, we evaluated how many unnecessary items we purchased and challenged ourselves to a “spend-free month” where we cut out all unnecessary purchases. This challenged us to reevaluate our budget and needs, and gave us more contentment for what we do have, rather than constantly reaching for more.

Consider what areas of novelty you can fast from for a period of time, so that the pleasure that they produce can be enhanced rather than become ordinary practices. This could be any area– sugar, coffee, Facebook, video games, or anything else that brings you enjoyment.

See how taking an intentional break from these activities allows your mind to rest and enjoy a renewed appreciation for what you fasted from. Life is full of good things, but don’t let the novelty you enjoy become ordinary, but savor it in a way that promotes gratitudes and healthy balance.

This article was originally published on This Evergreen Home, you can read it here.