As good as it gets

Today it’s been a different day and I loved it. This morning I woke up having a purpose: I’m going to change my daily routine; I’m going to modify some of the things I do everyday as a robot and see what happens.

I left my daughter at daycare and I started the experiment. I changed my route to work and instead of Bay Street I took another one. I never asked myself why I always go through the same one if I have other choices -I guess that when something works for you there is no reason for change it-.

But today I took Davenport Road and I walked paying attention to the stores. Honestly, that part of the street has nothing special but I actually found a store that cached my attention. It was a small paint store and I couldn’t avoid thinking how can a small and specialized business survive nowadays in downtown Toronto! Maybe I should write a post about it...

Before the morning meeting, I had –as always- my medium cappuccino but I decided to order a different muffin. I have to confess that I was scared because when I’m starving it’s better to eat something I really like -my mood depends on it- but anyway, I changed my daily carrot muffin for a chocolate and banana one and…I loved it! I really wasn’t expecting that taste; the mixture of banana and chocolate is mmm...delicious!

I was so excited about the results I was getting so far that on my way home I decided not to read or sit in the subway. I traveled observing the passengers and trying to guess the ages they had -I realized how bad I’m guessing that kind of things! Indeed, it is a hard exercise to do, have you ever tried it?

My non-routine day had two more challenges left. In the afternoon when I picked up my baby, instead of playing at the same place as we do always I parked the stroller in the other side of the park. At the beginning she felt lost, surprised. But after two minutes observing the area she recognized the park and started touching other trees and climbing some new stairs. It was awesome for both of us. We had lots of fun.

Finally, at night I change my daily routine with my partner deciding to start a bottle of wine before dinner and not while we are eating. We had a drink while we were cooking, while we were talking about our day. We weren’t at the table yet, the context was different and I really enjoyed the time.

I reviewed my day when I went to bed and I realized that, although I hadn’t put on a pair of red boots or a white hat, my non-routine day made me consciously go out of my comfort zone, and I liked it. I found a paint store, I had fun in the subway trying to guess the ages of the passengers, I discovered another side of the park, and I had a great time with my husband having some wine.

Today my little part of Jack Nicolson in As good as it gets disappeared and I really enjoyed the experience.Tomorrow I will probably have a sit in the subway again or I’ll walk through Bay Street without paying attention but I haven’t decided yet if I’ll eat the carrot muffin or the chocolate banana one.