I can’t lie, I’m one for routine. For the most part, I enjoy waking up in the morning and knowing what my day is going to look like.I also get a lot more done when I know I can count on a schedule that includes uninterrupted productivity time. Then again, if this routine goes on too long, things feel stagnant and I start getting less done and enjoying everyday life a little less.
Sometimes I just need a change of pace. That’s why I climb mountains and run marathons and other seemingly random things. That’s why I write now – so that I can maintain a schedule as I change up the rest of my life.
Basically, I run my life just like you’d cook a good pot of spaghetti – by stirring occasionally. You set the noodles in the boiling water and once in awhile you stir it up. If you stir too often, they won’t absorb the water and take forever to cook. Don’t stir at all and they stick to the bottom of the pot and burn. Have fun scraping.
Kind of a funny metaphor, but that’s how I feel about life. If you never take a moment to settle down, you’ll miss all that’s going on around you. If you don’t stop and pay attention, you can’t absorb all that the world has to teach you. You’ll never connect with anyone beyond a shallow acquaintance.
All the same, if you never stand up and shake things loose a bit, you’ll get “stuck to the pot.” You grow lethargic and dissatisfied at the same pace that you grow less and less able to change it. The longer you sit, the more stuck you become.
We all know someone like this – the friend or relative that’s never left home. They say they’d like to try something new, but they’ve known nothing but stillness their whole life. They can’t conceive of changing now, so they don’t. Unfortunately, they probably never will.
I don’t want to stick to my pot. I don’t ever want to feel like I’ve gone so far that it would take an act of God to change. I also don’t want to spend my whole life missing out on the amazing things that come with stillness and regularity. I want it all, damn it! I want the best of both worlds!
So, just like my pasta, I stir occasionally.
What about you? How do you get the most from life?
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Image by: Joshua Rappeneker
I’m totally with you on needing some predictability and regularity. Sometimes I find life more like preparing a batch of corn starch for a chowder soup – you gotta stir constantly, and even letting up for a couple minutes results in big clumps!
BTW That don’t look like pasta in that bowl there! Reminds me of hot&sour soup actually. Mmm… hot and sour soup…
I agree with you, Tyler. There are some things I need to have consistent but others, not so much. Gotta stir the pot now and then, sometimes on a daily basis.
I totally agree with this article. It’s nice to have a little structure, so when you do stir things up, it makes them that much more enjoyable. I recently stirred my pasta by rockin a zipline, which I have never done before. Definitely a nice break from the norm! Enjoy the wilderness! I hear it’s great up there.
Tyler – love the articles! They are so dead on. I recently stirred my pot by offering to my 16 year old nephew an opportunity to move to my city and finish out high school. He gets a great opportunity to learn new experiences while it mixes my life up to see the world through his eyes and be a mentor. Thanks for everything you share!
Good analogy. I add salt and turn up the heat. I wonder what that says about my life…
Mixing thing up is pretty important in life. I have always thought that if you aren’t busy living and changing you are busy dying and stagnating (slowly).
I just found your site and like what I see. I quit my 9 to 5 a few years back and have been making a living online since. At first it was a struggle, but now it is quite a pleasure. I am currently in the middle of an 8 month tour of Europe.
Taking risks with your life is fun and exciting and can possibly be very rewarding.
Thanks for what looks to be some great ideas. I look forward to reading more of your stuff.
What wisdom, I have the same relatives that have never cut the apron strings so to speak. The concept of experiential learning comes to mind. You work for 50 weeks a year and can hardly remember a week let alone a day yet you can vividly recall the most intimate detail of the two week camping/ fishing trip to Big Falls. Life is meant to be lived and I feel sorry for those among us that don’t / won’t live life.
I really really liked this one Tyler
Simpe & to the point.
I like that metaphor – but that’s probably because I’m a little obsessed with pasta. I feel like I’m either stirring way to vigorously or I’m not stirring enough. I go through energy peaks and valleys in that way. I’m definitely working on being a little bit more balanced with my stirring. Thanks!
Hey Tyler. Novel metaphor but I have to say amen here as well. You have to have balance in your life, and cycles. Change and stability, inspiration and perspiration. Things seem to get harder when you lean to much to one side or the other.
I love going on monastery retreats. It always helps me relax, get a good perspective on minimalist living, and be a better person when I return home to my routine.
I love to stir up my life as much as possible as well, from going kitesurfing to writing poetry. To taking the kids to an indoor sky diving tunnel and watching there face as they are enjoying there moment, to sitting down painting warhammer figures with the kids.
Life is about learning to stir the pot, It is good to stand still and really enjoy those moments, like when you have a really good meal infront of you. Really enjoy each mouthful.
I believe it is about what do you actually want from life call it your own recipe, we all have cook books to go to. If you can manage to fill your life full of different recipes,
I love this quote which I found after this website linked me to Joels blog then onto Nina’s Catles in the Air…..
The whole function of money is not to have it; its function is to use it. The main reason for generating money is to buy experiences. You want to get to the end of your life with zilch in the bank, and look back and say, “My God, look at this huge pile of experiences,” because none of your memories are ever lost.
- Stuart Wilde, Infinite Self”
I work away from home earn good money and I do use my money to buy experiences,
I do believe it is good to let the pot simmer on the odd occasion to sit still and enjoy that precious moment. As we never know what is around the corner…