Break away from routine to somewhere beautiful

This forced lock down in the past two years have completely ruined out leisure travel plans completely worldwide and we have seen the travel and leisure industry is in bad shape. I tend to be a creature of habit (as are we all), and periodically I've found myself feeling suffocated by the sameness of my days. The first line of offense for me is reading...everything. I update my morning newsfeed to include options I hadn't used. That sometimes gets my mind kickstarted in a new direction.

If that doesn't work, I go outside. Seriously. That may sound stupid, especially since I live on a farm and most of my working time is already spent outside. But I don't go out to the barn or into the field or go mess with the tractor. I go stand or walk in a place in the woods where I don't often go. A couple of times I've taken my guitar (no, I'm not very good at it) with me and sung a song or two to myself while I sat on a rock amid the trees. If it's summer, I might look at my garden and decide if a better color scheme might be afoot with some diligent planting. Since I have animals, I sometimes just go visit with them on their turf instead of mine. It's amazing what a perspective shift can occur from just sitting next to a chicken without eating the same.

I keep life very simple - sleep, work, eat, pray, exercise, volunteer and repeat. Keep away from gossip as much as possible. If I can’t be away from it, I minimize participation in gossip. I try to eat home cooked (sattvic vegan meals) as much as possible. I try to read and travel whenever possible in the lockdown conditions. I being a nature lover I sneak out with some friends into mountain treks and fort visits in India. Most of the above things are routine for many but they help me make most out of my life. A day spent out in nature either in jungles or mountains or waterbodies makes me refreshed for the whole next week.

Or I check the newspaper (I actually get paper ones!) for upcoming activities and put one or two into my online calendar so I'll be reminded that there's something more out there than my daily chores. And I actually do the activity. The local college, which happens to be on my street, sometimes offers one-shot classes open to the community. The workshop on some stand up comedy was a great experience that shook a few cobwebs loose. The problem is that we begin to become insular. Anything that breaks through the insulation that keeps us from feeling the sometimes awkward contact with the world outside our sphere will do as a first step.

I also like to discuss life's problems with people. Help them talking about their life problems and other relevant subject outside my working routine. Distressed and depressed people ask for my answers relating to different problems of their life. I try my best to counsel them in a positive and optimistic way to benefit them. I feel satisfaction when they are benefited from my answers. I feel happiness when they react positively and thank me. Always cultivate a hobby or join some classes or some sports or hobby clubs or doing something which make you happy, even traveling is good, These just don’t make you happy but also increases your productivity in your profession, who knows you may even end up as someone great too. Cheers!