"Variety's the very spice of life" wrote English poet William Cowper.
Now scientists have discovered a change of scene delivers more than just flavour - it can make us feel better.
This makes sense given that elderly people more often speak of regretting things they didn't do, says psychology professor Marc Wilson.
Photo: Autri Taheri / Unsplash
Human beings have long sought happiness and meaning but it's now been confirmed we also crave a "psychologically rich and diverse" experience, Dr Wilson says.
People with all types of psychological challenges participated in the study, he says, and spatio-temporal variety (moving through different environments) proved to be beneficial to all of them except those with social phobia or agoraphobia.
"It seems to be the case that [variety in one's day] is potentially beneficial for anyone who's experiencing almost any flavour of social or mental distress."
Dr Wilson understands that getting out the door can be extremely challenging when you're depressed but it is a relatively quick way we can fill up our own willpower, resilience and emotional flexibility "buckets".
"We can think of these things as a resource that runs down in the course of the day and we have to actually replenish them. This is what going out and seeing diverse things and doing diverse things tends to do."
Marc Wilson Photo: Used with permission
A tendency to be 'out and about' is one of the reasons extroverts scored higher than introverts in the recent international study called The Kindness Test, Dr Wilson says.
Extroverted people are more often situations where they have an opportunity to talk to strangers and then experience the giving and receiving of kindness.
"The thing about being an extrovert is you create more opportunities for the kinds of interactions in which things like kindness can occur."
The Kindness Test revealed that giving and noticing kindness is related to higher levels of personal well-being and life satisfaction, Dr Wilson says.
Yet, concerningly, people seem to be getting worse at noticing moments when kindness would be beneficial.
The Covid-19 pandemic may have made us kinder by allowing people time to reflect and see more clearly the importance of both kindness and gratitude, he says.
While many people seem "nauseated" by the idea of writing a gratitude journal, he says, there's now a lot of evidence supporting the mental health benefits of gratitude practices.
Dr Marc Wilson is a Professor of Psychology at Victoria University.
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