Summer of '16 and confronting monotony
Monotony (def) – wearisome uniformity or lack of variety, as in occupation or scenery (1).
For some, the summer of 2016 has been eventful in a number of positive ways. Traveling domestic and abroad, seeing familiar faces, getting acquainted with new ones and taking in new sights provide people with new experiences and additional perspective. For others, it has been not so good with destruction, loss, and grief permeating the atmosphere.
The theme of summer 16, on this end, is business as usual. On one hand, business as usual is cool. Prepare the same, execute the same, then do it again the next day. On the other hand, it has brought a level of repetition that borders on becoming a chore for the exact same reasons that business as usual is cool. The same reasons why the summer of 16 is cool are the same reasons why the summer of 16 is boring as hell. Trying to keep a routine, while incorporating activities to bring some life to the routine and keep days from becoming mundane, is the new challenge.
Two activities that constitute business as usual being cool are working out and reading. No matter what, those are two activities that will be a staple as long as both are able to be done. However, embracing new challenges in the gym and incorporating new reading material to the arsenal keeps these two activities from becoming a chore, because as important as they are, there’s no harm in adding some spice to the routine.
The one area which adding variety to a routine has become quite the challenge is in writing. Much like going to the gym, going to work, and reading, writing is a staple that is applied with regularity; yet, it is a staple that gets abandoned from time-to-time, and it is because there are times when it is hard to find something to write about. Learning from the greats in their respective passions and professions about what they do to confront plateaus helps; some wake up earlier in the morning to seize the challenge of hitting the proverbial wall. Others incorporate different techniques while keeping the craft front and center, and while those approaches work to some degree, the bigger quality is being open to trying something new to get to a goal.
Other people stepped away, but they also noted that they didn’t step away for long. If anything, that is what this summer of 16 is all about: enjoying moments and finding ways to make the most of them by keeping a routine while adding something new.