Getting Out of Your Rut is a Good Thing
A few weeks ago, I wrote a serious post about how we need to be willing to be uncomfortable if we want to make a difference.
Consider this post its light-hearted cousin: discomfort for the sake of fun.
As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the blessings of discomfort is growth. If we always eat the same sorts of food, read the same sorts of books, and see the same sorts of movies, we won’t grow.
There are countless ways to use your downtime to grow. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Sneaky Cards. One of my earliest blog posts was about the interactive scavenger hunt known as Sneaky Cards. Most of us will feel stretched by at least some of the activities in this game. Anyone up for lying on the ground until someone asks if you’re okay?
- Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You. This one-year journal is filled with inspirational quotes and assignments that encourage you to embrace discomfort. I started the journal in 2017, and a little over half-way through the year, I realized that I’d need more than a year to complete it. For most of us, life is filled with mundane details. You go to work, and when you come home, there’s dinner to make and the dog to walk and children to help with homework… you get the idea. Finding time to tackle one of the assignments in the book can easily become just one more thing on your to-do list. On my busy days, I would pick one of the easier assignments, such as “Dare to create art today.” When I got to the point where trying to fit the remaining challenges into my daily life was too overwhelming, I set the book aside. I still plan on finishing it, but I’ll do it in my own time.
- You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-up Girls. This book is for people who loved earning merit badges — or wish they’d had the chance to earn some. You can choose from 60 badges, including filmmaking, speaking a foreign language, fire walking (think I’ll skip that one), snow sports, car care, and genealogy. There are even badge stickers in the back of the book. (Okay, they aren’t patches, but were you really going to sew your “starting a rock band” badge to a vest and wear it? You were? Maybe you can make your own and sew them to a vest you make to earn your “sewing” badge.) Despite the title, there is no reason a man couldn’t use this book to stretch himself. He can just skip over the female-oriented things, like a sidebar about “Gyno Know-How” in the “healthcare” badge section.
- A Year of Reading the World and Global Table Adventure. Two different bloggers, two different challenges: you can read your way around the world or cook your way around the world. If you’re obsessive, like me, you can do both, and even see if you can find movies and music from each country you tackle.
- Tyler Cowen’s suggestions for avoiding complacency. Tyler Cowen believes that Americans are becoming too complacent. Part of the problem is technology; companies figure out what we like and serve up more of the same. Part of it is our own refusal to move or to embrace the new. I’ll address some arguments against Cowen in a moment, but whatever you think of his priorities, check out his ideas for fighting complacency. Pick a book for its cover? Challenge yourself to shop exclusively at a specialty grocery store for a month? Sign me up!
There Are Times When a Rut Can Be Good
I mentioned arguments against Cowen. When I was telling a friend about his “complacency quiz” (no longer available on his website), she objected to how much of an emphasis he placed on moving. My family moved a lot, and I would like to live one or two more places — at least for a little while — before I die. But staying put is beneficial for relationships. People often stay in one place to be near their family and even their friends. While I’d be one of the first people to encourage those who have never lived outside a certain area to move somewhere else for a little while, relationships are important, and they’re worth taking into consideration if you’re pondering a move.
Ruts can also simplify your life. Dr. Richard Swenson argues in favor of cutting back on the number of choices we make (what we’ll wear, what we’ll eat for breakfast, where we’ll go on vacation) in order to create margin. Many of us live at such a frantic pace that we’re sorely in need of margin — a good reason to actually embrace complacency in some areas of our lives.
And ruts, of course, are the essence of habits — bad or good. If you’ve established the habit of taking a morning walk in order to get more exercise, by all means, keep doing what you need to do. I would argue that you could shake up your routine a little by trying running, if you’re able, or by choosing a different route, but healthy habits are more important than complacency.
Now get off the computer and try something new!