THIS year I am making an effort to go out to different places. I’ve been asking friends to scribble down walks they enjoy in different parts of Yorkshire, where I have never been. One has just passed me a map of the Yorkshire Wolds, a beautiful area which I don’t know at all.

For years my husband and I have visited the same places over and over again, places that are tried and tested. It’s a safe option, but it doesn’t stir the imagination like a new destination.

It’s not unusual to behave in this way. Humans are creatures of habit. A survey found that most adults only visit 25 places regularly.

Academics and researchers from Sony Mobile analysed people’s mobile phone traces. Researchers first spotted the repeat-visit effect in 1000 students, but then, after scaling up the project to 40,000 people, they found that it applies to everyone.

Even though some places change over time, the number of regularly-visited places - including the gym, restaurants and the supermarket - remains the same.

Alarmingly, my husband and I not only go to the same places, but when we visit them, we tend to follow the same routes. We walk the same paths at stately homes, visit the same streets in local towns and follow in our own footsteps when walking in the countryside near our home.

I’m embarrassed to admit I even take the same path around the supermarket every week. It is not ideal and involves some doubling back, but is essentially the same every week.

It’s not uncommon to behave like this. Research conducted on shopping patterns in superstores, using GPS trackers, suggests people travel to some aisles only, and rarely in a systematic up-and-down pattern.

Come to think of it, I buy the same things every week, too, which points to a rather dull existence.

Humans are creatures of routine. I drive along the same roads every week, rarely deviating. For years I drove within 200 metres of a fantastic charity shop, but did not know it existed until a friend alerted me to it. Half my wardrobe comes from there. So many great places lie off our beaten tracks, but our habitual behaviour means we never come across them.

It’s the same with meals. A survey by the online supermarket Ocado found that the average person owns six cook books, but cooks a menu of just nine meals.

I own four times that number, accumulated over the years, but cook only five meals on a regular basis: spaghetti bolognese (I’m still a student at heart), chilli con carne (bolognese with added chilli beans and powder), chicken curry, vegetable curry and Sunday roast.

I occasionally come across recipes I fancy trying and venture into uncharted waters, but the effort of buying a shelf-load of ingredients and the time spent following the instructions is never worth the effort.

It is easy to plough the same furrow, and quite exciting if we find something new that we like. As I grow older, I lead a more repetitive life, following the same routines most days.

Now I genuinely want this to change. You only live once and opening yourself up to new experiences can surely be a good thing.

So if you spot someone wandering aimlessly through the Yorkshire Wolds with a map and a puzzled expression, please stop and help.