Throw A Wrench In It: Mixing Up the Monotony

Our day-to-day lives can often become quite monotonous. We wakeup at about the same time everyday, eat the same breakfast, go to the same job, and so on. You have heard it said before, “We are creatures of habit” this is not a bad think but at some point the same things day in and day out will make you lose your mind.

This week while at the grocery store I lost it. No, I did not push over the dividers and cause a domino effect all throughout the store. I should have thought of that though. What did happen was I had one of those self-awareness moments where I was reaching for my coco covered almonds for the 45^th week in a row. I then though, “what the hell am I doing?” The monotony of it all finally hit me all at once. In that moment I realized that I had been doing the same routine for that last 5 months.

I had to throw a wrench so to speak into the middle of all the monotony (had to sneak the title in here some how). So I drove three hours north of where I live to hike with my dog. I woke up at 5 a.m. the next morning so I could see the sun rise, romantic right a man and his dog watching the sun rise from atop a mountain, it was 8 degrees out and the wind was blowing 15 mph, it took me three hours to climb and descend the mountain, but it did the trick.

What does this have to do with fitness and being strong? Well more then you would think. Mental health is a big part of your overall health. You need to be enjoying what you do, this is being happy. If you are loving life 90% of the time I would say you have a good life. It is how you deal with the other 10% that can really determine your level of happiness.

A great peace of advice that I received was, no matter how bad the circumstances is, you can control how you react to the situation. When life sucks you choose to allow the external situation to effect the internal you. In any given situation you choose to be angry, sad, or frustrated. Its as easy as deciding to be happy in these moments.   Just reminding yourself that you always have control of how you responded to any given situation will go a long way. This is a simplistic solution to a complexes situation. This minds set works the majority of the time but not always.

What I mentioned above is a great mental exercise to try, but sometimes the solution is to physically get up and do something. One-way is to just get way from everything for a few hours. This can be a really nice way to mix up your day-to-day routine. We are so over run by technology, cell phones, computers, TV, ext. That it can be hard to think sometimes. Just going somewhere where you are completely free from it all for a few hours can be relaxing; I equate it to restarting your computer after leaving it on for the past 3 months. It’s a reboot for your mind.

I love being routine. It is apart of who I am, but you have to know when to mix it up. I am not saying everyone has to go out and freeze some serious sack like I did, but it worked for me. What I do suggest is you think of something that you really enjoy, something that you just have not done for a long time. Doing something spontaneous every once an a while can help break up the monotony in your life. Not to mention keep you sane.

Next week I will talk about ways to break up the monotony of the gym.

Best

Josh Williams

P.S. If you did not know I have the sexiest dog on earth.

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