As time passes, our routines become more and more ingrained. We switch into autopilot, passing through life without thinking. The more we partake in these routines, the more they become part of our identity, and the harder it is to break them. When there’s a big change in our lives, we become afraid and defensive. We believe — rather, we feel — these routines are integral to our lives. To break a long-held routine can be a tantalizing thought. We get so anxious when we don’t have wifi for 24 hours, but what if we didn’t have wifi for 24 days? How will we survive? The feeling seeps deep into our skin — we actually experience physical, mental and spiritual anguish.
We may never challenge these routines, because to do so would be to question the very foundation on which we run our lives. Our reliance on technology, which we know to be permanently stealing our attention, is met with a shrug and a hopeless statement like, “what other choice do I have?”
The important question, though, is at what cost are we living our lives in a string of predictable, non-changing routines?
It reminds me of a scene in one of my favorite movies, the Matrix, where Neo is distracted by the woman in the red dress, and Morpheus asks,“Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?” When Neo…
