Recreational travel is the only thing that routinely works for me in terms of slowing down time and fully engaging my brain. It's something I can incorporate into my life multiple times per year and it guarantees a massive amount of new stimulation (assuming travel to new and interesting places). Even the most rudimentary trip to Europe will have you grappling all day long with a different language and culture and environment in ways that are completely taken for granted in our day to day lives.
There's lots of things that can make an even bigger impact, like moving to a new place or starting a new career or school, or a new relationship. But those are things that sometimes only happen a handful of times in our entire lives.
Everything else I find eventually becomes routine, no matter how stimulatingly it can be at the start. Not that we shouldn't try! Some stimulation is a whole lot better than none, and I have a terrible feeling that many people get little-to-no stimulation for weeks and months at a time (beyond a new TV show or podcast or political drama).
There's lots of things that can make an even bigger impact, like moving to a new place or starting a new career or school, or a new relationship. But those are things that sometimes only happen a handful of times in our entire lives.
Everything else I find eventually becomes routine, no matter how stimulatingly it can be at the start. Not that we shouldn't try! Some stimulation is a whole lot better than none, and I have a terrible feeling that many people get little-to-no stimulation for weeks and months at a time (beyond a new TV show or podcast or political drama).