ACCLIMATE

ˈaklɪmeɪt,əˈklʌɪmət/

verb

"to adjust or adapt to a

new climate, place, or situation."

It's been a while, again, I must admit. But I will always come back here to my writing sanctuary as my source of therapy to remain grounded, to take time to breathe and think about the past and plan my way forward. You (may or may not) hear that reflection and goal setting is important to a person's success and I just happen to take this a little more... publicly.

It has occurred to me recently why routine is deadly. In a time and place of newness we acclimate. We are more alert, more conscious, try harder. In a time and place of routine? We are half present, sometimes even completely absent. We become blind to our surroundings and we stop trying. And when we stop trying, things die. 

S was driving us home one night and decided to take a different route. Being chatty, overly-inquisitive me, I asked 'why'. He told me something fascinating (amongst all the other fascinating things he teaches me everyday) that bus drivers are made to change their assigned bus routes to decrease the chance of accidents. Driving the same bus route everyday makes your brain work less. When your brain works less you are more prone to accidents, to deaths. Much like bus drivers, sometimes he does the same. As someone who always orders the same meal, this was an enlightening moment for me. So enlightening that I wrote this article and did a spontaneous photoshoot to accompany it.

Much like bus drivers, industrial workers working in a factory line who do the same routine every day are extremely prone to accidents. You might think this doesn't apply to your workplace but you might want to re-evaluate that. You wake up around the same time everyday, you take the same car/bus/train everyday. You walk the same path from your form of transport into work everyday. You sit down at your desk about the same time everyday. You make that coffee or fill up that cup with whatever your preference of a morning drink is everyday, and you sit back down. And you get to work. For the next 8 (or 9, or 10) hours you just work. Though your actual 'work' may be a little different to your tasks from the day before, your overall routine is the same.

I completely believe in the idea of flexible working arrangements. Where people take advantage of it not to be lazy, but to change away from the routine in order to become more efficient, to reactivate the use of their own brain. Goals die within routine. We don't achieve anything under routine. If you want to make change, to achieve something different... you need to do something different. 

In a relationship of some considerable length, this applies in much the same way. Many people dangerously fall into the toxicness of 'routine'. Where you stop trying to get to know each other. When you stop giving effort (on them and on the relationship) you are more prone to accidents (fights) and to deaths (of a relationship). This is why special date nights are so important, ones that are not part of the routine. You can spend 24 hours with a person and still not have gotten to know them. You can put away your phone and still lack the quality of communication needed to keep a relationship alive. Not having the distractions of technology does not mean you are 100% present. 

Being 100% present is a conscious choice beyond distractions. Ask him/her questions and listen, truly listen and learn. Regain your inquisitive nature to get to know this person in front of you (like you did on your first date). People change, sometimes you don't notice this when they're in front of you every day. Change is subtle but when you are brain dead around them for years, change adds up and before you know it, you've lost the one person you thought you knew the most...

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