My wife and I had a date night last night. So, after a great dinner, we did what any couple on a date night would do.
We went food shopping.
Interestingly, I haven’t been in a supermarket at 9 PM on a Friday for as long as I can remember, possibly forever.
And the supermarket was an entirely different place.
I tend to be a Saturday or Sunday morning shopper, often fitting in the shopping between sports and whatever we have happening in the afternoon. During that time, not surprisingly, the supermarket is often hectic, crazy even.
But on a Friday evening, it was an entirely different place.
It was quiet. It wasn’t crowded. The deli line was, well, no line. It was actually, a pleasure.
This made me think about the challenge of sometimes getting “stuck” in a routine or a certain way of doing things. And that being “stuck” can truly prevent us from seeing what is really out there; we tend to miss other interpretations or other opportunities when we get too close to a given routine.
How do we break out? We have to remind ourselves that doing things differently is the only way to truly gauge whether ideas work or don’t, and we have to put ourselves into scenarios where we can, in fact, change our routines.
Sometimes it pays to start small, as even the tiniest change in how we do things can be useful in helping us see the world through a new light.
Yesterday’s shopping trip was a small shift, but one that refocused me on the need to do things differently whenever we can!