Why Your Life Needs Novelty, No Matter Your Age (2)

So after about 30 seconds, I decide to mimic.
And so I lay in this fresh bed of snow in Montana, I move my arms and my legs.
And then it dawns on me.
I'm making a snow angel for the first time. And of course, I've seen other people do it and I've seen it on television before.
But it was the first time I did it.
You see, I've coined the term powerful first experiences or PFEs as doing something you never thought you would do for the first time, in a place that you never thought you would be in for the first time.
The main reason why I was in Montana in the first place was to give a talk about powerful first experiences,
so it was only right that I would then have powerful first experiences in Montana.
Powerful first experiences are life-altering moments and experiences that change the way that we see ourselves and changes the way we see the world.
And it can be as expansive as skydiving out of a plane in France or as small as visiting a lake to meditate for the first time.
What matters is your imagination, your courage and your curiosity.

In the book "Power of Moments" by Chip and Dan Heath, the authors reference what psychologists call the reminiscence bump,
a phenomenon where older individuals are asked to think about their experiences, where they tend to disproportionately talk about the experiences that happened roughly between the ages of 15 to 30.
Some researchers say this is a time in our lives when we experience the most novelty.
And there's a few theories why.
One, when you enter and pass through your 30s, life can seem like it speeds up because we develop the habits of doing the same things over and over.
Another reason is that there are just some experiences in our lives that are set to happen within that time frame.
So think about it. By 15, you might be in high school.
By 18, you may be in college.
After college, you get a job, you may buy the big home, you may get married, you may have a kid.