Thursday, July 24, 2014

Avoiding Different


I’ve never been more proud! My son, Jonah, just graduated from Kindergarten. Give me “My Kid is a Kindergarten Graduate” bumper sticker and I’ll slap it to the back of my SUV!

zcache.com
Alright, I may be exaggerating a bit as it relates to the “never been more proud” statement. While it’s a pretty exciting accomplishment as it relates to the life of a kindergartner, what I’ll be more proud is if we can get Jonah through all the camps we have him registered for this summer. My goodness!
For those of you who have kids and have experienced the journey through summer camps, you’ll probably understand me when I tell you the choices are overwhelming. (For those of you who haven’t hit this phase in life… just wait).  There are so many choices! Zoo camp, basketball camp, fencing camp (yes, for 6 year olds!), Spanish camp, chemistry camp… you name it, there’s a camp for it. And while I was overwhelmed as I read the options out loud and secretly hoped he would want to do Zoo camp every week to make my life easier, Jonah grew more and more excited about the prospect of doing something different every week of the summer.
As I reluctantly registered him for a new camp each week, I couldn’t help but reflect on how incredible a child’s curiosity and thirst for learning is. He was seeking out the opportunity to try something different, meet new people and learn new things every single week this summer.
It makes me wonder… 
At what point in our lives do we start taking the same route to work day after day? At what point in our lives do we settle into our job and do the same thing day after day? At what point do we find comfort in avoiding different?
When this happens, we have (likely unintentionally) closed ourselves off to learning and growing. We hamper our curiosity. We enter into a life of boredom, monotony and mundaneness…
Alright, I might be getting a bit dark.
The good news is it’s quite easy to change! While there are likely over a million Internet search results on how to change or how to be more curious, I found this list on the Live Bold and Bloom site to be quite entertaining and thought they had some really great suggestions.
So whether it’s driving a new route home tonight, reading an article about something you didn’t know or taking up a new hobby, I hope this sparked some small reminder to dig deep inside yourself to find an ounce of that curiosity that you had when you were a child.
I know for me, I’m going to do my best to be more like Jonah and find excitement in what each new week brings. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get online and search for a fencing course.
Looking for a new route to work? Reach out to abby.ludens@mattressfirm.com
#MFRMlife

 

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