There is a trail near my house that I love to take Bishop to. The main part of the trail looks like a figure eight. Through the trail their are connections that allow you to connect to other parts of the outer most trail. Whenever Bishop and I set out to the trail we tend to take the outer most trail and head clockwise. This maximizes the amount of time he is on the trail, roughly 30 min for one loop. Yesterday I took one of the shortcuts back because I was anxious about getting other things done. We got back to the car and it was clear Bishop still had a good amount of energy. I headed back to the trail and this time took the right hand trail to take the loop counter clockwise. For Bishop it was like a whole new trail. He ran about sniffing everything as though we had not explored these woods dozens of times before. After laughing at him, I started actually looking around. The trail looked sooo different from this perspective. Before I realized it we had completed the loop and were back at the car. This gave me an idea. Next week I am going to try to "change directions" more often. Little things that would not really impact my day other then I just "normally" do not go that way. I am going to walk by different classrooms in the morning on the way to my mailbox. I am going to take a different road home. I am going to try to break my routines and see what else is going on outside of my bubble.
This is also good for your brain. Every time you do something unique you build new pathways in your brain. This helps prevent Alzheimer disease.
ReplyDeleteI try to drive a different way home a couple of times a month.
Sometimes those unexpected surprises are good!
Interesting Cindy, I would not have thought of that but it makes complete sense. I will admit that I am also hopeful to see some different xmas lights on the way home. :)
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job explaining your point. I sometimes take a different road to work or even my 200 mile road trip to my inlaws in Maine. This makes the road trip more interesting and fun for all.
Great observation about routines! It seems that we can easily get stuck into those daily routines. Whether it's in our life, our classroom, our teaching methods, walking the same trail, everything. I know when I'm exercising I try to change the type of exercise I do (walk, jog, bike) and then change where I exercise frequently.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, that by making a change in our routine it will allow us to change our perspective on the way we look at things. To me that's a great reason to change things up in our lives every now and then!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYour comments about change are very interesting especially during a time of the year when traditions are strong.
I like small changes in my life...it helps keep things fresh. I can't take a different route to my classroom (we only have one basic hallway), but maybe at the grocery store I'll go counter clockwise instead of clock-wise. Who knows, maybe grocery shopping will be a new experience and I'll get excited like Bishop!
Charisse,
ReplyDeleteBe careful, getting as excited as Bishop can be dangerous. He tends to live life with great zest.