Break the Chains of Routine

Journeying into the unknown, assuming the mental state of adventure and serendipity, can present the most interesting results.

All too often we are bogged down (without realizing it) in our day-to-day routines: bed by 9:30, rise at 6:30, drink coffee and take one’s vitamins; drive to work seeing the same people on the road because they leave at the same time you do; work hard and drive home, seeing the same morning drivers; drink the happy hour cocktail and eat dinner at the same time you’ve eaten for many years; back to bed, read and beg for sex but you know every Saturday night is a sure thing and has been a sure thing in your marriage for the last twenty years. Rise in the morning at 6:30 and…you get the point.

Breaking the chain of habit is a difficult thing to do. For some, it can be almost physically painful because change of any kind means death.

Many, including myself, find routine a type of security blanket, no surprises, and no sudden changes, just more of the same equals comfort. But is this so-called “comfort place” the place you really want to be in?

Similar to the man who has the proverbial paper bag over his head, does not know the difference because he knows nothing else. For many it takes courage to change and sometimes a tremendous amount of effort.

Then, of course, life throws you a curve ball, change is thrust upon you without mercy, and there’s no choice, you have to change and adapt. Some never recover and withdraw further into their self-created caves of desperate solitude. The again, some have the stamina to meet change head-on, like Jacob wrestling the angel, life is designed to be engaged with, getting one’s hands dirty, so to speak, otherwise what’s the point?

The reason I bring this topic up is my experience this morning. My friend and I decided to go to a different shopping centre than the usual one to do a little clothes shopping. Bought a few items and then decided to have lunch. Rather than our places of secure habit, we decided to drive in the opposite direction, heading towards the countryside. We continued to drive admiring the landscape - olive groves and wineries abounded.

Only about 15 miles from where we started we came across a local pub. Walking into the place reminded me of the country bars in mid west America. It was if we transported back in time to circa 1970, live Blues music filled the air from an old guy on the stage who sounded like the country music and Blues artists of the fifties and sixties. He played that guitar like a third arm and had the perfect gravely voice that gave his music an authentic quality like we were hearing the real thing…and we were.

The lady tending bar, a middle-aged ex-hippy suggested we try the local wine and set two glasses on the bar. Wow, it had to be the best tasting Cabernet I’ve had in many years. Her smile would melt the hardest of people and you simply felt welcome.

Our meals were excellent for a meagre price; and the wine alone, worth the trip.

Although the sound of the Blues filled the air, everyone looked to be very happy, eating and drinking, enjoying the sunshine in the leafy open area out the back.
Unfortunately it was time to go because of our habitual obligations and our daily routines.

Returning to our “normal” lives, surprisingly, was not a let-down because we had journyed forth into the unknown, breaking with the humdrum, thus feeling re-energised, more positive about the world in general.

Change can be rewarding and necessary in order to merely stay awake and appreciate what one has and what one is, mindful of the moment.