My workouts every day. my morning routine. My nighttime routine. My grocery story routine. Routine. Routine. Routine. Routine is fun until it isn’t fun. The question is: what is the right amount of routine and when is it good to break the routine to keep that fire under us burning fresh and strong?
Hard charging and loving the routine. Or a little overwhelmed and wanting to step back from the routine. We’ve all been there. The flow of life. We eliminate lots of anxiety and find lots of safety in our routines. they’re our safe place. Our consistency’s and what give us stability in our lives. A feeling of ease when you know you’ve got everything done you need to get done in your routine. Ahhh such a great feeling.
However: think about the new job that you might’ve stepped into or will step into. that new lady friend you met or are wanting to meet. that new hobby that you’ve daydreamed about but never actually done anything about it. new music you might’ve been curious about. new restaurants or outdoor adventure areas you might’ve always wanted to try.
For some: initially thinking about going new places or trying new things sparks lots of anxiety. there are some who need to stay in their city, go to their usual grocery store, and not leave more than a 10 minute radius of their home. Do not fear. This is normal. Humans since the beginning of time lived in tribes. lots of time was spent most of our time close to home for gathering food and building a life.
However: If you’ve dug into any modern-day psychology, you will see lots of info on stepping out of comfort zones and being able to explore and be curious toward new stimulus or environments. This can be beneficial for us as modern-day humans. We have lots of resources and interact with so many different people, that opening our eyes to new stimulus or environments can help us connect better, getting along better, and further our own internal data base of knowledge that we can use to impact our own tribes or environments.
Lets go over a modern day example: when I was a kid, my mother was really good at facilitating curiosity and exploration in us. On a Tuesday, she would go: hey, I’ve got a really good plan as a family for us on Saturday. Sometimes she would give us the details and sometimes she wouldn’t. she made it familiar for us to expect some sort of “out of the box and out of our comfort zones” activity. It would entail some sort of adventure into the wilderness, new restaurants, fun places to go like farmers markets, movies, trampoline parks, water parks, etc. She was good at helping us be familiar with new places and new people. A value skill set that our mother practiced with us. This naturally can help increase communication skills, sense of joy and belonging, and a bigger picture view of the world around us.
Lets fast forward a little further ahead to our adult years. Some people in their adult years let the stress of work and responsibilities of life kill that fire beneath them. What i mean is: as a kid, you are smiling, being curious, joyful and looking at the world as a new experience. Then is see adults who walk through their days looking at the world like they want it to end. the stress of life taking away that joyful look and feeling that the world has to offer. no longer having that childhood lens that we used to have growing up.
The answer is simple: when you’re feeling out of touch with yourself, stressed out beyond belief from work, or whatever it is: a step into a unfamiliar territory can be that decision you need to make all the difference. A perspective change. Why do you think they’re treating depression with Mushrooms now? perspective change. Sometimes in the stress and busyness of life, we let that exhaust us and we forget to see the beauty and appreciation in all that is around us. it becomes so familiar because we see it every single day. Not that you need drugs to do so: but lets get out of our city, go to a park we never went to. read a book somewhere where you’ve never sat and listened to the birds at. Try some new food in a city where there is a restaurant unlike one that you have near home. hangout at the beach, get outside and just be a free animal. because that’s what we are. animals.
being a hard charging human is a beautiful part to mankind. we have the ability to choose. to commit. and produce results from which we commit to. but even routine needs moderation. our batteries need a recharge before we can go back to battle. we can not lay on the gas pedal 100% of the time. We need to try new things, explore what this world has to offer, and experience as much life as we can experience.
and guess what: the humans that are more active in their lives with their bodies, minds, and spirits tend to be the happiest and most fulfilled humans there are. Live well.
Embrace your curiosity.
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