It was recently pointed out to me that I am a woman of routine.
I function, in a way, according to a number of routines – from my morning cup of coffee routine and my daily Bible reading routine, to my near-nightly workout routine and my evening walk routine. I allot specific time to one of my numerous hobbies daily and I do household chores according to a fairly consistent schedule. Not to mention the numerous routines I incorporate into my day as I teach (mind you these, I’ll argue, are necessary for my students).
These are just a few of the things that, without them incorporated fairly regularly into my days, I can’t help but feel just a little off and, in a way, a little empty.
Discipline is good and I think that the right kind and amount of routine keeps this gal grounded in an otherwise potentially frenzied life. But with routine does come the risk of leading a humdrum life in which the awesome can easily be overlooked, and I’m noticing that: sometimes, I take my coffee for granted; sometimes, I gloss over powerful passages in my reading; my workouts seem to be losing their revitalizing quality; pleasurable hobbies are becoming obligations; and my once delightful evening stroll is becoming a chore.
This is to name just a few.
I’m not going to lie, stepping away from the everyday always entails a noticeable adjustment period for me. Vacations tend to involve, initially, a sense of discomfort as said routines are interrupted. For an avid traveler such as I, this can be an experiential hindrance that I, quite frankly, dislike.
I have been striving for awhile to be more spontaneous. I have been aspiring to better embrace the little bits of awesome that are thrown my way, while I am traveling, but especially on a daily basis. Oddly enough, I’m able to do this best when I push myself to make a point to look for it.
Thus I will take a step backward and adopt yet another routine in the hopes of leaping forward into seeing the world in which awesome abounds. I will write about it daily.
I realize that something of this nature has been done before (namely Neil Pasricha’s Books of Awesome which, I’ll admit, I’ve yet to read). I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, nor am I trying to steal anyone’s thunder. I’m merely embarking my own personal mission to find my own personal little bits of awesome.
Mostly, this is a mission inspired in part by Pasricha’s awesome idea, and in part by my apprehension regarding what I’m anticipating will be a very challenging, for a number of reasons, 6 months to come. As I physically prepare to return to the Arctic this week, I am mentally preparing for the challenge I am sure to face both professionally and privately and the very likely possibility that I will fall into the monotony that can so easily become a way of life in the cold, dark, isolated Arctic – a place where the awesome can often be hidden or intangible if you let it.
And, at the very least, this new blog will at least get this aspiring writer writing on a much more consistent basis (ideally, daily).
So, with no further ado, I present to you Mission Awesome: 365 Little Bits of Awesome in 2012.
Mission Awesome 