Routine

We are all creatures of habit. We strive to create a set routine for the way we live our lives. Once we establish good momentum, we find it difficult to leave our normal lives, even temporarily, for what we have come to know as ‘holidays’.

Comfort

You take comfort in knowing that, if you suddenly feel like reading the book you tossed to the side, because you were feeling a little too critical on Monday night, you can pick it back up and spend the rest of the afternoon on the couch with it today. You don’t need to have miraculously known that that’s what you may have wanted to do today and packed for it accordingly.

Lifestyle

You prefer, no wait, you love knowing that if you need to jot down an idea in your red moleskin notebook, that it’s on the second row of the study bookshelf, next to that gold painted bird paperweight you picked up last week from the local gift store. It’s right where you put it, right where it’s meant to be – rather than that clever location you found, in your frustrating packing ordeal. So clever that you have no idea which compartment it’s in, let alone which bag you packed it in. Clearly, you outdid yourself with the packing this time. You start to wonder whose great idea this holiday was in the first place…

Travel

The thing we forget is that if you live anywhere in the world (and we all do…), your city is what it is because it’s economically funded via several state and national income sources – tourism being one of them. Yes, there are people who travel nationally and globally to visit the city you are living in. They pay for it too. Now if they are paying for it, there must be something good about it right?

Explore

So go and explore your city, your state – see what all the fuss is about. Sometimes we take things for granted and we fall into the habit of naturally overlooking things. Take a moment to stop and capture the things around you. Switch off your preconceptions, your pre-judgements and just feel. Rather than walking right past that old building on the corner to work, stop to observe it – the design, the colours, the hole on the bottom-corner brick. It could be from last week. It could be from over 50 years ago. Show appreciation for it. This building- that you are so accustomed to rushing past each day, it’s probably one of the buildings the tourists visit in their city tour- they charge for that too you know. You are getting it for free every day.