Saturday, October 9, 2010

Monotony

It's been a while since I did this blogging thing. Let's see how it goes.

A couple of weeks ago, life was boring. For a while, my weeks consisted of the same events:

Monday: School
Tuesday: Bruising from stick-beating/Editing
Wednesday: School
Thursday: Doctor
Friday: Homework
Saturday: Miscellaneous
Sunday: Homework

Even the Saturdays, which consisted of different things, weren't enough to prevent me from becoming incredibly bored. I felt the icy hand of monotony reaching down to turn me into a robot, or something. At some point, I thought playing Uno in the middle of a street would be a good way to deal with the situation. It'd be exciting, and if a car were to hit me, my boring, monotonous life would come to an end! Oh, sweet relief!

But seriously, death is never the answer to anything.

Anyway, it was on a Tuesday night that I decided to finally put an end to this monotony. I did something new. I did something incredibly risky, something completely different that even I was not expecting. I committed a risky and bold act that would completely shake the foundations of my life: I sent a text message to someone I had never text messaged before.

And just like that, the cycle was broken. Balance had been restored.
It's as simple as that. There will be moments in life where routine will leave you in an undesired state of anguish and boredom. It is inevitable. It's natural, and in some senses, a good thing.

Bees are natural and good. They are also deadly.

If you ever find yourself in a monotonous state, there are quite a few things you can do to save yourself from insanity. You can do something similar to what I did and try something new. Saying you don't have any free time in your schedule to do something new isn't a good excuse. Hours are not needed to end your terribly boring routine. The smallest act can save you. It'll only work if you're willing to let it work.
Taking on a different perspective helps break routine. If you were to move a single grain of sand in a desert, you would change that desert. Consequently, you would change the world, and by changing the world, you would have changed the universe.
This concept can be applied to a monotonous life. Wearing two different socks, combing your hair differently, buying a balloon, walking to class a different way or sending a text message to someone new may not be much, but it can be.

"Today, I went to school, did homework, worked, and went home to sleep."
vs.
"Today, I went to school, did homework, worked, bought a balloon, and went home to sleep."

I think the addition of the balloon is pretty exciting. But that's just me.

As dangerous as monotony may seem to your sanity, it is also incredibly crucial. We don't expect to walk into our house and have someone hand us a puppy or punch us in the face. There is no mystery to it. If it was always a surprise, life would be kind of crappy and pretty stressful. Having a class be in the same location is good! Going to your room to find your bed is nice! Suddenly being allergic to peanuts when your favorite food was peanut butter is not good.

Like everything else in life (probably), routine and the new must exist in a state of equilibrium so life can be enjoyed to it's fullest potential. Here's a graph.


In closing, do something new, but keep some routine. Monotony is like the foundations of a building, and all the new, different things in life is like the paint, structures, windows and architecture of the building. No one wants a boring structure, so it's up to you to make it interesting.

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