There are times when you seek variety in life. When you venture into the unknown, hoping for surprises, creating delight…
… and then there are those times when you get stuck in a routine. A sequence of steps mindlessly executed because there is just so much to do. Times like these get worse when you have some time off - because that time off is spent recovering from the exhaustion that the routine brings. Time that could have been spent seeking joy in the world outside, gets spent in bed, waiting for the tiredness to wash away.
Is that a fun existence? I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve somehow succumbed to this “regular” existence recently, and as a result, I pulled out this poem from my archive to inspire myself. I hope it inspires you too!
Alright, poem starts in 3… 2… 1!
A regular life with a regular vibe. A setting of regular defaults applied. A regular night and a regular day. A walk on the path of the regular way. A regular feeling, a regular time. A routine of habits you silently mime. Some regular moments you'll surely forget, that won't make you happy or even upset. A regular tale that forever gets told. A regular story that never gets old. But when you are done with this regular dance. And want the unexpected to have one more chance. Then carefully, slowly, take down all your walls. That keep you so safe in these regular halls. Go on then, step out from it just for a while. And something not regular might make you smile.
That’s it! Thanks for reading edition 155 of Hello Universe.
I’m curious to know, and also hungry for some tips - How do you deal with life when it gets monotonous? How do you beat the regular blues? Share your tips in the comments below, I’m sure it will be of tremendous help to the Hello Universe community!
Some Fun Stuff
This is a place where I share something cool to read, something cool to listen to, and something cool to watch! The underlined words are links that you can click to visit the recommended content.
1. Check out this article I wrote!: You may know that I write Future Telescope, a newsletter about AI. My latest post is one I wrote with tremendous passion, putting myself into the shoes of a product marketing manager at Google, thinking of the possibilities that AI products bring. I put a lot of myself in this post, and I would love if you, dear reader, could check it out and share some feedback! Also, if in case you know someone at Google, do share this post with them too! 😇
2. Listen to Hands On Transparent by Niconé: This is a perfect road trip song for an electronic music fan. It will put you right in the zone. Check it out!
3. Watch “Japan’s Unconventional Solution to the Housing Crisis”: I always knew that the Japanese market treats housing as a consumer product that depreciates in value rather than as an investment product that appreciates in value. However, I was not familiar with the reasons. This video does a great job of explaining the unconventional world of Japanese housing, and maybe has some lessons for your city too!
That’s it for this week, see you next Tuesday when we celebrate 3 years of Hello Universe.
There are many things I enjoy to break the routine with, like reading, listening to podcasts or learning something new. The most effective is meditation to be fair, because it takes just a few minute to reset and is like you get the chance to re-invent yourself on a daily basis.
My favourite and most rewarding though is travelling. I am lucky enough to have a partner who enjoys most of the things I do and we go places most weekends or plan longer trips over the year to have things to look forward to. We never complain about waking up early to catch a flight, rain or being stuck in traffic, is just part of the experience.
We've been been asking ourselves how do other people deal with routine, but more than that... how do people manage to settle somewhere in the world, permanently and be content? We struggle to sit still for more than 3, 4 years....then we find a project or move house, jobs, location.
Monotonous Is not in my vocaboulary...every day is interesting and different. I can't say that i ever get bored. There is so much to learn. Life is all about learning and it's never ending. I believe it's the only thing we take with us when we go...and I do believe in a next lifetime.