It is easy for us to live in a world of the mundane and lose our sense of wonder. Most of the actions we take in life are not from conscious decisions but the outcome of a routine behaviour that is regularly repeated. When habits are unguided, it may obstruct a healthy lifestyle and keep one grounded in a changing world.
I had the experience of the ugly side of routine some months ago. I usually follow the same route every day to drop my daughter in school, and I know the terrain very well. With my Airpods on, I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on around me as I embark on the 15 minutes to and fro movement.
One morning, as I was coming back from her school, the people in one of the neighbourhoods gathered to look at a very beautiful and bold rainbow that rose at a corner behind the bridge. I thought it was the usual people who usually do their morning walk that gathered, so I didn’t pay much attention. A woman who noticed how I passed nonchalantly commanded me to stop. “You gotta stop and look at this,” she said, pointing towards the rainbows. “Have you not noticed them, or are they not beautiful?”, she added. I took out my Airpods and stood with them for several minutes, gazing at the awesome sight before my eyes.
It was not the first time they gathered to watch the beautiful rainbow, but it was my first time stopping to watch it, courtesy of the woman who stopped me. So I expressed my gratitude to her for forcing me to stop and look at the marvel.
My ‘school run’ had become so quotidian, so unique that I focused on it alone and didn’t notice or appreciate the beauties surrounding the road and its environment. I learnt not to make such mistakes of being carried away by daily routines but to explore all the newness and the fascinations through it.
Indeed, repetition dulls excitement. The truth is that doing the same thing every day exposes us to the tendency of falling into a rut and losing our capacity or awe for wonder. Have you noticed that tourists who visit your neighbourhood explore more the beauties in it and enjoy them more than you do? The same neighbourhood where they take amazing pictures, tour the sites, and create beautiful memories is where you live without a single catchy experience. It doesn’t matter the site or the type of environment because every environment is unique on its own and has peculiar attributes that’s worth enjoying. What matters is appreciating the uniqueness of that routine and enjoying the beautiful moments in it.
The same routine experience plays out when we go to school or to work regularly. We know what to expect, a samenees in event. The same people, the same practice, the same teaching or training, the same engagements, the same pattern, the same gestures, attitudes, and so on. It becomes so conventional, so predictable, that we can lose our sense of awe, of wonder at other things that are taking place. With time, it may become boring that we fail to notice when changes occur or to marvel at the new things that have been introduced within that circle.
Occasionally, in our daily routine, we need a little jolt, a nudge, as I was given on my ‘school run’, to remind us to look more closely at what’s happening, to stop and appreciate more fully, the beauties around us and be amazed at the events unfolding around us.
Amara Ann Unachukwu
