Do You See What I See?

Do you want to know why I haven't updated my blog for so long? I'll tell you.

I have nothing to say.

No, seriously. NOTHING. (If you know me personally, this comes as quite the surprise, I'm sure)

I've drafted numerous posts, but left them unfinished. And then yesterday, something in my head clicked. I literally thought to myself, "Andrew, you're an idiot."

I realized that the reason I've had no ideas or inspiration for writing for the past few months is because I've fallen into a routine. A monotonous, self-serving routine.

Here's the breakdown: wake up (usually later rather than sooner), skip breakfast, caffeine fix from Starbucks, work at the magazine from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. (lunch in between usually), quick trip home to change, work at The Melting Pot until ... late. Then, bed.

And I'm sure you can guess what happens next. Wake up and do it again.

You can see how that would get boring. And when the boredom hit, I tried to fix it by investing in myself: playing video games for too long, going out with friends and spending too much, staying up too late. My life turned into a process of transcending my boredom through means that became unhealthy (physically or otherwise) after a while. (Don't misunderstand -- none of the things I listed are bad in their own right)

So rewind (or fast forward?) back to yesterday when everything "clicked." I was driving home, and asking myself why I couldn't finish a single post. I was frustrated. And I blamed it on all the factors outside of myself. I thought I was stuck in a routine, so I didn't have the inspiration or the new experiences I needed to keep my blog and its posts fresh and interesting.

And here's what clicked: I thought of a post I made on this very blog two summers ago. I realized this:

Life is defined by the perspective you view it through.

My real-life application to that principle materializes in the fact that if I think my life is dull and repetitive, it will be. So rather than continuing to search for ways to distract myself from my boring life (through pastime overload), I decided to look for the life that is here--I'm just not seeing it.

And do you know what happened? Suddenly, my life doesn't seem so dull anymore (even though I still go to the same two jobs everyday!).

I thought about the people in my life, and realized how much I appreciate them--how different my life would be without them. And then I made my first change. I asked one of those people to have lunch with me, because, while we see each other every day, we never get to talk or spend time together (and I'm missing out on something great because of that!).

This is a change I'm trying to make in my life every day: seeing what's not always readily visible, appreciating everything I have and looking for the value in the areas that seem old and tired. It's not an instant fix; it's a life change that will hopefully become habit and transform the way I see the world (and those involved) around me.

So here's the challenge for you. Re-read the steps above--the ones I implemented in my life--and transform your tired, monotonous life into one where you are able to appreciate the small (and huge) things you never saw before (or never viewed clearly), even though they were right below your nose the whole time.

And hopefully, with this new perspective on life, I'll always have something to say.