Simply change(d)
It’s been quite a strange time for us recently. We’ve been going through so many changes, it’s crazy!
But before I dive into the deep – some backstory.
We’ve been staying and working at the same place for over 2 years now. The pandemic got us kind of stuck, so we just kept on going in a trance-like state for months. We were fortunate and lucky (or so we thought at the time) that we are key workers, because nothing in our routine changed dramatically. I would even say nothing at all.
And so we had our life cycle of: work-home, home-work. We would go once or twice during the colder months for a quick walk/ hike (but only in the radius of 5-10 miles from home, as the guidelines required from us) and we would spend the whole summer outside camping. Literally – we would go for a few nights, go back home for a few hours to change some clothes, get some provisions, check on the cats and jump on the road again.
Anyway – we had built a routine which none of us wanted in the first place and none of us actually realised. Until our first travel this year.
We went on a holiday in May just for a week – our chosen destination was Nerja, Spain. The best choice we’d made in years! And that, I’d say, was the turning point in our lives.
Because we hadn’t travelled in so long (over 2 years), we got ourselves in a place where we didn’t exactly realise what we were doing. None of us was really happy, but we’d be so used to that state at this point, that it was beyond our realisation.
However – the borders opened, the flights went back to normal (almost), we just couldn’t wait to get on an airplane again (it felt as if we are flying for the first time) and explore some new lands!
It turned out even better than we expected – we had so many unexpected events, meetings and places that I will have put them in another post. And I will! 🙂
But as for now – I wanted to stress on how important changes could be for anyone. And as scary, risky and sometimes simply impossible it might seem… we need changes in our lives! Especially when we’ve created a cycle of simple routines which we follow automatically and don’t even notice ourselves and the surrounding world anymore.
And when I say changes, I mean all of them. Big and small. Significant and insignificant.
To change your job.
To change your clothes.
To change the usual places you go for a walk, lunch or shopping.
To change your usual playlist.
And by saying all that, I do have in mind that creating different routines is crucial for us as humans. This is how our brains perceive the surrounding world in the most efficient way.
The thing is, people develop this kind of tendency where they would go a bit too far into their routines – so far that the routine would become a habit, and the habit – addiction.
We would often think of the extremes of addiction, as they can get really severe. And the same way, we have to think of the more subtle forms of the things we like or love but yet indulging in it just a little too often – so it no longer has that “edge”, it doesn’t satisfy us. It doesn’t bring that amount of pleasure as it used to at the very beginning. And this is when, usually, people start looking for something else, something stronger to give them that thrill which they can no longer perceive from their usual “thrill-source”. This is how we get ourselves into a cycle where, if unnoticed and unregulated, we can go a bit further into the habit and turn it into an addiction.
One way of regulating our behaviour is “surprising” it. Tweak something from the usual routine. Even if not a key aspect of it, start small.
Experiment with yourself.
Find new ways of delivering dopamine to the body.
“Learn how to keep that “no-go”, don-t circuitry, as they call it.”
Deliberately throughout the day stop yourself from doing things you want to do impulsively – even the most trivial actions could change a lot in our brains – don’t take a look at your phone every 3-5-10-30 minutes. Don’t go to open the fridge door first thing after walking in the kitchen. Don’t light that cigarette just now, put it down and light it in a few minutes. Or don’t. Don’t make yourself a coffee immediately after you wake up, give yourself an hour and have your coffee then. Go to bed half an hour later/ earlier.
Keep the routine, but break the habit.
And so, to sum up – creating a routine is ABSOLUTELY crucial and very, very important for us to manage our time but restricting ourselves from getting into it a bit too much is the other key point and very important part of keeping our minds sane and clear.
This is well-proven by many scientists and for the curious ones I’m posting a link to a short video by one of the greatest scientists living nowadays – the neurologist and ophthalmologist Andrew Huberman. This is where I source my information on this topic (and many others, as he is simply a genius).
He explains it in a way that everybody could understand.
That’s all from me (just kidding, this is just me starting)
See ya’ll again soon,
MG
Alonsy Around The World 