“What you do makes a difference. And you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”–Jane Goodall
Sweeping ArounD 🧹
During the pandemic, I purchased a Roomba, an iRobot vacuum for which I could set a schedule for regular sweepings of the house. There were three of us at the time, working from home and interacting a whole lot more with our two cats. Thus, there was more than the normal amount of traffic in the main areas of our house, so the Roomba seemed like a good investment.
It was great fun watching that little disc, affectionately named “Spot,” zip around the house whisking away the hair and dust while we worked. At first, it seemed to move throughout the house in no certain order. However, once its internal navigating system became familiar with the layout of our house, it didn’t take long for it to begin trekking over the carpet in precise patterns. We watched it move with intention, seemingly knowing where it was, where it wanted to go, and where it wanted to end before the battery needed to be recharged.
Stuck AGain 🤔
Lately, however, it’s been sending me messages that it ended its job, “stuck.” At first, I wondered how it was possible for Roomba to be stuck on a flat surface? I supposed its battery simply didn’t have the strength it once had. Now, the problem has grown even bigger, not only is it still sending me messages that it is “stuck,” but it is also no longer functioning properly, pushing the cat hair into multiple mini-piles all over the carpet. Now, we come home to find the Roomba, at a stand still in the middle of an open, flat area of our house. It’s as if it is so focused on getting finished before its battery dies that it’s not taking to properly execute its job–sweep the dust and cat hair.
This reminded me that sometime in life, it’s not necessarily the challenges that get us, but instead, it’s the everyday routine that can cause us to get stuck in a rut. Our own internal navigation system focuses so much on the destination–be it the end of the day, the end of the work-week, the number of days until a holiday/vacation, the number of years to retirement, and so forth–that we forget to pay attention to the road over which we travel. Navigation systems require two things: Knowing where you are, and where you want to be? However, if you don’t pay attention to the route, you won’t get to your destination.
No Stopping until We Reach our Destination ✈️
Too often we are so focused on our self-defined destination that we forget where we are and overlook not only the pothole in the road or traffic jam ahead, but we also ignore the beautiful scenery that lines the route. Our eyes become so fixated on “the end” that we will blunder and stumble through the motions of life, forgetting that we have a purpose in the here and now, not just once we reach our destination. In the same way that part of traveling is paying attention to the route in order to arrive safely, we too cannot fully and satisfactorily arrive at any self-determined destination without fully focusing on the route in between.
Agency over Urgency🚘
As a young teenage driver, my parents often advised me to, “Give yourself enough time to arrive safely at your destination.” This is a great reminder for moving through life. It reduces urgency, so that we can have agency. Remembering that we have a certain level of agency in situations, no matter what our jobs/roles/responsibilities are, serves as a reminder that we have a certain level of choice as to where we put our attention and how we choose to react to the proverbial potholes in the road of life.
When we were new drivers, we needed to master small tasks, such as, navigating traffic, how/when to turn at a stop sign, how to safely pass another driver, and so forth. Working on these skills over time was part of the process to becoming a successful driver. Likewise, as young adults, we approached life and our newly found adult role with the trepidation of a newly licensed driver. Over time, just like with driving, the more we participate in our new roles, the more our knowledge increases. It’s only natural that we begin to modify and adapt our navigational skills as we gain a better understanding of where we are and the direction our life is taking.
Inner Tune Up 🔧
However, it is easy to get stuck in the routine and lose sight of the actual route over which we travel. We go through the motions, driving through life, but not really engaging with it. That’s when, like my iRobot, we need to reach out for “I-support” and perhaps do some trouble shooting. We can do this through meditation, self-examination/reflection and also by connecting with the faith-based community of our choice, a trusted friend, family-member, or fellow mentor. Through the process of self-reflection and reaching out to a trusted group or person, we can tune-up our inner-GPS, ensuring we are focused on our values and traveling, aka working, in alignment with them.
People-Centered Living 😃
When we focus more on our values, it helps us adhere to our destination’s route, but with less emphasis on the journey’s end and more emphasis on what is in front of us in the here and now. By observing who, or what, is in our day-to-day encounters, we might begin to see that we are more than our work. Instead, we begin to live a more people-centered life, and not just work-centered lives.
Additionally, when we truly take the time to refocus on our values, we are taking time to also tune-up and adjust our own inner world, our internal navigation system. In the same way a fully functioning navigation system gets our cars to our ultimate destination, our internal pilot will wander all over the place without a robust, healthy internal world. When our internal navigating system is off, we, too, become stuck on flat ground like my Roomba.
There’s nothing wrong with a daily routine. They are necessary to complete life tasks. However, let us not allow their regularity to cause us to overlook the very things that can feed our souls and enrich our life. Let us take time to remember our core values, so that we are mindful of the destination without urgency, and use our agency to engage with the opportunities along the way.
Steph Simply 