We are hard-wired for novelty
Not sure why that is, but that be the way it do.
UUUUUUUUUGH SO SHINEY HHHMMMMFFNGNFFNG
Humans love new experiences. This is why routine often feels so dull; it's the same thing over and over. But the New(tm) is a big ol' dollop of WHOA. I read somewhere that, neurologically, newness hooks into our memories better; the new or the different is easier to remember. This is part of what makes childhood experiences so formative.
Sometimes I think we get carried away with seeking out the new. I've observed the following in myself: if I see a book published more than a few years ago or a Youtube video from a few weeks ago, I kinda give a mental scoff and my knee-jerk response is to pass it up because of some silly notion that it's out of date and not relevant.
I think it's some sort of bias we have. And it's dumb and I want to get over it.
The other thing about newness and novelty I've observed in me affects my creativity. I need to keep changing up my routines and methods and techniques and toolbox when it comes to creative work - as soon as it becomes too rote, it dies. The first day of trying something new is glorious and I always feel energized - the first time I woke up at five AM and hammered out an hour of writing, for instance, was actually super liberating and glorious. But then I ilost steam and had to move on to something else; what was new and exciting becomes routine and boring and my work starts to become less interesting as a consequence.
But this tendency has its good side. It forces me not to be complacent. Complacency is death for any artist.
Toodle-oo, my pretties! So sayth The Drew Witch.