Take A Different Road

I’m pretty much a creature of habit.  Perhaps we all are.

When Emily and I drive to school, I take one of three ways, usually the same way.  Hannah and I took the same route.  I guess I’ve always done this sort of thing.

I remember as a teacher in Wisconsin, one of my department mates was amazed that I had lived in the same community for five or six years, but didn’t really know my way around.  Mark would say, “Just get in your car and drive sometime.  Really, just drive!”

But I didn’t. 

Instead, I’d ask him for directions, take out a map (way before GPS was born) and otherwise get lost a lot.  As I stated in a previous post (I, Compass), I suffer from Anti-Directional Lewis Syndrome.  It is a malady that affects most of us in the family.

So as a result, I stick to mostly the same route each day, day after day . . .

My wife, Kim, knows the county much better than I do.  It could be because she teaches in a school that is the furthest North in the county so she had to find different ways to get from home to school and back again because of the volume of traffic that exists in the D.C. Metro and Northern/Central part of Virginia. 

I think Kim knows the county better than I do partly due to the fact that she teaches Behind The Wheel (Driver Education) so the kids take her all sorts of places.  Mostly Behind The Wheel is safe, except for the time a young lady drove up over the curb and into the woods (yes, really!). 

But because she allowed kids to drive her places, she’s seen more, knows more routes, and can get around much easier than I can. 

Got me thinking . . .

What if I . . . we . . . experimented a bit with our routine?  If we broke out of our norm?  If we stepped out of our pattern?  Stretched a bit?  Explored a little?  Opened ourselves to new experiences?

If we decided to take a different route, a different road, a different path, it might not be the fastest or the quickest and could actually take us longer.  It might make us uncomfortable.  It might test our patience.

But . . .

It might make life . . . our life, our world more interesting.  We might see a little more.  We might learn a little more . . . about our world . . . about ourselves.  About life.  Something to try.  Something to think about . . .

Live Your Life, and Make A Difference!