What is your answer?
Variety in life is exciting. Rituals maintain balance.
Not prepared
The guest who was asked the question on the talk show hesitated for a split second and used the tactic of suave interviewees of not answering the question but switching to another topic.
The question did not let him go – who would want to give the impression that a busy life, which is exciting from the outside, consists merely of a long series of routines – and yet, in the course of the conversation, he wanted to report what he had done for the first time today.
A day without any routine and a life without cherished rituals would probably be unbearable. Still, it’s worth doing as many new things as possible.
Change of perspective
In the best case, a new perspective results from the new company – in any case, the change of perspective keeps young, advises age researcher Professor Sven Voelpel, Jacobs University, Bremen.
The change of perspective can be taken quite literally.
Approaching the usual running route in the opposite direction brings a new look at the familiar surroundings, where you already seem to know every tree.
Actually walking backwards for part of the run has an even greater effect.
Whenever we do something new or change familiar routines, our brain develops new connections that keep us active and performing.
Get out of the break routine
This has a new meaning in times of home offices and company canteens, which now no longer look really attractive with all the plastic partitions.
Why not try the new restaurant with Persian cuisine during lunch break, which you always pass by on your bike on the way to the office.
Many things can be changed without much effort: Try a new butter from Brittany; reach for black pasta instead of the usual tagliatelle while planning the next trip to Venice.
I have no desire to live the same way
says Bill Murray in an interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, defending his love of spontaneity and his desire not always to do the things that others expect of him.
Our viewing and reading habits can quickly put us in a bubble, even if it’s filled with dear friends or colleagues in the most pleasant way.
Next time you go to the newsstand, don’t or don’t just reach for your favorite magazine, but pick up a magazine you’ve never read, brush your teeth with your other hand, walk a new path home from the yoga studio, or learn an instrument.
Buy a new fragrance to pamper yourself with at the change of season.
Try orange wine, even if well-meaning friends warn you against it, and treat yourself to a subscription to an auteur film platform that will introduce you to the best films of new Korean cinema.
And that’s the end of this article, because we really want to go to the cinema tonight to see Wes Anderson’s new film “The French Dispatch”.
Watching Wes Anderson’s films is as dear a ritual to us as watching the latest episodes of James Bond.
Worth considering
A GloriousMe reader, after reading our reference for James Bond, brought to our attention the quote from Jack London that M quotes from a lengthy passage at the memorial service for Her Majesty’s Agent:
“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I will not waste my days prolonging them. I will use my time”
Photographs
© GloriousMe | Cover: Presidential Palace Qasr Al Watan, Abu Dhabi
