Mess With the Settings and Stop Life Becoming One Big Blur đď¸
In the age of routinemaxxing and doomscrolling, we could all do with a little more novelty.
As a dad, husband, son, friend, and mostly tolerable colleague, free time has been a scarce commodity for a while now. Between eating, sleeping, working, exercising, and occasionally staring into the cupboard hoping a snack will miraculously appear, there isnât a whole lot of room left in the day for exciting new experiences. I know for a fact this isnât just a me problem. Whether youâre raising a family or simply trying to keep a house plant alive, everyone feels stretched at the best of times.
Remember when we were kids and the summer holidays felt like an eternity? Without getting too deep into the psychology of it, this all boils down to the concept of novelty. As a kid, everything is new. Life is a continuous stream of learning, experimenting, and general adventure.
But as adults, the treadmill that is life forces us to stick to rigid schedules just to keep all the plates spinning. As a result, that newness fades away faster than a resolution in late January. Instead of letting this reality weigh me down, Iâve started drip-feeding my weeks with little, manufactured novelties to combat each day blurring into the next. Nothing drastic, just messing with the default settings every now and again.
Below is a list of quick wins that have really helped me break up a typical week. The goal is to mildly shock the system and, ultimately, have a story to tell at the dinner table that isn't just a recap of the incessant ping of my inbox.
These are far from mind-blowing activities, but thatâs kind of the point. Life is too short to hold out for those rare occasions a few times a year when you finally have the time and energy to go rock climbing or jump out of a plane. While all of these might not appeal to you, hopefully theyâll at least make you think about your own routine-breakers and boredom-busters.
Get Out of the House and Work From a Third Place
Unless youâre lucky enough to have a trust fund or somehow won the lottery, we all have to work. Whether you wake up raring to go or need a strong coffee before someone says âHappy Monday!â (sorry ), changing where you work for even a few hours can do wonders. Admittedly, this doesnât apply to nurses, teachers or other non-office dwellers, but for us desk jockeys itâs an easy one to try.
In the age of hybrid working, a mix of a few days in the office and a few at home does the trick. But after a few months on repeat, even that split starts to feel monotonous as hell.
Iâve found that picking a third place to work that isnât home or the office really puts a smile on my face. Iâve tried cafĂŠs, restaurants, breweries, the shopping centre, and even the local church. The result is always the same â a new environment, new faces, different furniture, and often superior lunch options.
The trick here is to lean right into it. Buy that extortionate fancy coffee, treat yourself to the cake, or actually chat to the person next to you. Keep the headphones off and take in the sights and sounds. Just getting away for a couple of hours can turn a standard Tuesday into something delightfully novel.
Put Down the Pesto Jar and Cook Something New
Iâm an avid home cook and even I find myself bored of making the same meals over and over. Yes, batch cooking and having a roster of go-tos can be a lifesaver, but shaking things up in the kitchen has been a really fun way to literally spice up a evening.
Start simple by swapping out your standard pasta shape or throwing a wildcard ingredient into a stir-fry. Then advance to round two: try something entirely new but achievable within a 30-minute window. Have you heard of Taco Tuesday but never actually attempted it yourself? Youâre in for a treat. Pro tip: do not skip the guac. If the stars align and you find yourself with spare time, go big. Make a Thai green curry paste from scratch, call your mum and ask for her lasagne recipe, or fire up the BBQ â who says sweating over a fat fire is strictly a weekend activity?
Mealtimes are an unavoidable necessity of life, but theyâre also one of the easiest ways to make an otherwise unremarkable day feel more memorable. If you can be a bit of a grump like me, absolutely nothing turns a foul mood around quite like a homemade bowl of miso ramen on the sofa with a good film. Throughout human history, food has been at the heart of everything. It brings people together and files those moments in your memory bank right next to that time you saw a Nemo fish while snorkelling off the coast of Okinawa.
Go Off-Piste and Get Lost
If youâre anything like me, your daily walk follows the exact same loop every single time. Itâs a route so deeply ingrained in your muscle memory that the scenery has become entirely invisible. You know exactly which paving slab is a trip hazard and which side of the street has optimal shade or sun depending on whether you remembered to put on sun cream. This mandated mental health walk does the job during a hectic workweek, but it does absolutely nothing to break the monotony.
The weekend offers a rare opportunity. Instead of falling back on your default Saturday settings, try to break the script. Every now and again, pick a spot thatâs perhaps been on your radar but, for whatever reason, has always seemed like a âmaybe next weekendâ situation.
While a spontaneous getaway in Tuscany is sure to do the trick, Iâm simply talking about making a short journey to a nearby park or part of town you havenât been to before, or at least for a while. There is a deeply satisfying thrill in getting disorientated close to home. It forces your brain to wake up and actually process its surroundings rather than functioning on autopilot. Plus, it opens up a whole new world of premium house-snooping.
The real magic of the weekend wander is the rewards along the way. A new coffee blend. A quiet pint in a beer garden. Finally ticking off a gift purchase youâve been procrastinating over. Maybe picking up some overly expensive organic produce for dinner that night. Before you know it, what could have been a standard Saturday feels more like a mini-holiday.
Embrace the Bumbag and Become a Tourist
Iâve written before about being an unashamed city addict. I stand by the fact that cities are fantastic at opening your eyes and delivering life-affirming experiences. But there is a cruel irony to living in or near a major city: the longer you are there, the smaller your world becomes. Especially when dogs and kiddies enter the picture. It is tragically easy to stay hyper-local. We end up completely dismissing the incredible stuff that tourists travel long distances and pay big bucks to experience, usually because we write it off as too busy or cheesy.
But brushing off world-class culture just because it happens to be on your doorstep is a massive wasted opportunity. Every now and again, give yourself permission to unapologetically act like an out-of-towner. Go to the sprawling museums, wander through the historic cathedrals, brave the bustling food markets, and book tickets for that blockbuster show. Wow, with descriptions like that I should get paid by Londonâs tourist board.
As a Londoner, leaning into the obvious landmarks has provided some of the best routine-breakers Iâve had. There is genuine joy in hopping on a Thames river boat and watching Big Ben glide by, or feeling the burn in your thighs while climbing the steps of St Paulâs Cathedral. You don't need a bumbag to enjoy these things. You just need to stop dismissing them because they happen to be a little close to home.
Stepping into an outsider's perspective reminds you exactly why millions romanticise the place you live. I need to constantly remind myself that within 30 minutes I can be watching a hologram concert of ABBA or standing on Savile Row looking up at the rooftop where The Beatles played their last ever gig. Why donât I do it more often? And after a big day out, you get the distinct advantage of sleeping in your own bed that night.
Break Your Own Rules and See What Happens
There are, of course, countless other tiny ways to break the routine. Sometimes, simply ticking off one lingering item on a to-do list is enough to make you feel dangerously productive and change the tone of your week.
Other times, itâs just about breaking your own social habits. Iâve started actually chatting with my barber instead of sitting in awkward silence. Iâve even thrown caution to the wind and combined different friendship groups just to see what happens. Unsurprisingly, more often than not, they actually click. And if all else fails, just down tools early and pop to the park for an impromptu summer picnic, or close the curtains and put on a nostalgic childhood film.
The point here is to have fun making your own list. Your routine-breakers can be as spectacularly mundane or as wildly extravagant as your bank balance and imagination will allow. But whatever you choose, donât wait until the time âfeels rightâ. There is no perfect time, and no one is going to hand you a permission slip. Most of life happens between the big things, so you might as well make those bits a tad more memorable.
Routine is useful. We need it to keep life ticking along without descending into complete chaos. But every now and again, itâs worth messing with the settings and seeing what happens. Turn left instead of right. Order something you canât pronounce. Nothing needs a full factory reset â sometimes you just need to turn it off and on again.
Whenever I find myself slipping back into autopilot, I think about every time I go for a run: the actual running is usually fine. The hardest part is just putting on the damn shoes.