Are you choosing books, music, and videos that are different from your usual?

I feel like as I get older, the range of my interests is narrowing more and more.
I realized that this isn't about things getting deeper, but rather my perspective just getting narrower, and it sent a cold shiver down my spine.
When I notice, I find myself choosing only books, music, programs, and videos from specific genres.

I occasionally go to Muji.
When I go to Muji, there is a shelf named 'Books that were meant to become waste paper.' That is what I'm looking for.
'Books that were meant to become waste paper' is a section where they sell books that didn't find buyers and were destined to be recycled as waste paper, but are now being offered to customers in a different way.
With the exceptionally low price of 100 yen for a paperback and 300 yen for a hardcover, I sometimes buy books there.

That day, too, I was searching for something interesting to read, clutching a 100-yen coin in my hand.
Among the various books lined up, such as mystery novels, translated foreign literature, and essays by various people, I was unconsciously narrowing my search to my favorite genres.

The moment I realized this, I was startled.

I like the end of the Edo period, so I often read historical novels from that era or novels based on true stories.
Conversely, I don't even care about the content of other genres.

Come to think of it, the music I listen to lately is narrowed down not just by genre, but even by artist. I couldn't care less about new songs from other artists.
I watch the same programs and videos, too. Even on YouTube, I skip videos from creators I don't usually watch just by looking at the thumbnails.

It wasn't that I didn't read, listen to, or watch them because I knew they wouldn't be interesting, but rather that I had just become too lazy to dive into unknown genres.

This is me narrowing my own perspective.

Perhaps if I read a different book than usual, listened to music I didn't know, or watched a program or video I'd never seen before, I might find something new, yet I keep choosing and repeating only the same things as yesterday.

However, when I looked into it, it seems to be a natural thing.

When people are young, they have little experience, so everything feels new, but as they age, they become able to predict the content.
And it seems that we change to save cognitive energy for learning new names and words, and to make our time more efficient.
In other words, it's 'brain optimization'.
It might be a choice for survival, to absorb only what is necessary for us efficiently without getting tired.

But if I just brush it off by saying, 'Well, it can't be helped,' I'll end up reading the same books, listening to the same music, and watching the same videos tomorrow.
And then, my unchanging daily life will stop being fun, and before I know it, I'll be feeling depressed.

Precisely because of this brain mechanism, it is necessary for us to occasionally go against our brains of our own volition.
Try reading just one book that is different from usual. Or maybe just one page is fine.
Try listening to just one song that is different, or watching just one video that is different.
To the extent that you don't get tired. Try adventuring within a range where you can return immediately.
People who seem to live happily even as they age are surely doing this. Sometimes, they go against their own brains.

Among the people who come to buy glasses, there are sometimes people like this.

Even though they look amazing in round glasses,
'No, this is the only one for me,'
they say, and choose the same square-shaped glasses as always. I don't have the right to stop them, so I just let them do as they please.

On the other hand, there are people who try on a different shape of glasses than usual,
'This is also a good option,'
they say, and choose those.
Usually, those are the people who seem to be living happily.