"Day" 2 has been completed. The day's task was to gaze at everyone wondering whether there were my one true love, and act in consequence. I did this task on Saturday, purposely chosen so that I would have to go to work (I didn't want my co-workers to think me any stranger than they already do by gazing at them). The day was spent at home, a little bit of shopping, and travelling to Knoxville to play a show at a gay bar.
I have to say that the overall experience was interesting, and not nearly as entertaining as I thought it might be. As I thought about my task, I expected to have people pay more attention to me (in the same way I paid attention to them) as well as have them perhaps feel uncomfortable as I fixated them in my gaze and pondered their qualities. This was not the case. Most of the problem, I think, is that I'm already incredibly self-aware and have an excellent idea of the type of character my "true love" is. The other problem is that I've already met the person I intend to spend the rest of my life with. For the sake of this exercise, I was more than willing to gaze at people to see what I'd think if they, also, could be a "one" for me, but I found it to be work. It was near impossible to not compare them to my known "one", and every time these new people fell short.
The other hiccup was that I was surrounded by homosexuals for much of the duration of this task. That knowledge in advance, and knowing that I personally don't swing that way, put up an additional barrier for my gazing. Really, the end result was that I merely glanced at people, gave a smile and attempted to consider their potential as a life partner for myself. I estimated that that activity would take at least a minute for each person, but in reality it only lasted a few seconds.
I also disliked how it changed my perspective of these individuals. As I don't normally meet people with the intention of sizing them up to see if they're my long lost true love, I almost always immediately like everyone I meet. This exercise, however, caused me to view new people slightly more negatively, as I was immediately finding them to not be "the one" for me.
Day 2: Success
Changes: I have a greater appreciation for my normal way of being. I'm glad that I don't gaze at everyone I meet to see if they're "the one."
Monday, May 27, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
End of Boredom. Day 1: Warm-Up
Boredom has struck again. Despite how busy my days seem to be, I constantly find myself dissatisfied, unchallenged, and flat-out bored. A few friends of mine have taken to doing monthly or daily "things" to take a picture of, or post about, or simply experience on a regular basis. I don't fancy myself an artist, but I do like the idea of being given ideas for things to do, especially things I've not done before.
So that's how I arrived here today, on this blog, with a book called This Book Will Change Your Life. Epic sounding, I know. When I first glanced at the title, I assumed it would be a common-sense, self-help-esque pile of boring things that wouldn't change my life at all. And besides, I'm not out to change my life. Just looking for things to do to cure my boredom. Curiosity took over, though, and I began flipping through it. And I must admit that I'm intrigued. The book is essentially 365 tasks for you to do and then write about your experience. But they're not just any old simple task, or tasks that seem to be couched in psycho-babble. In fact, it's rather humorous, and I immediately decided to buy the book and give it a try.
The ground rules: The book is laid out in such a way as to do a different task each day and write about it. The idea is that by the end of a calendar year, you'll have changed, and in the process documented those changes. I'll not be following the "every day" requirement. If I were to do that, then I'd be more likely to cut corners or simply not accomplish a task. And not doing tasks defeats the entire purpose. The deadline will also add stress to this activity, when all I want it for is my personal amusement. So my rule will be that I will do these 365 tasks to the best of my ability, as close to in order as possible, when I have the time. I'll read step one, and then do step one at my earliest convenience. I will then write about it on here, thus documenting and reflecting on the experience.
This is the beginning. Day 1. The Warm-up.
Today a list was given of a variety of things to choose to do that are considered "easy." They are. And, in fact, I've already done most of the options given, so I chose: Decide which one of your toes is the prettiest.
Deciding which toe was prettiest was difficult!! At first I thought it would be the big toe on my right foot, but the more I looked, I began to find beauty in all of them. I've never been a huge fan of feet, and at present, my toenails aren't trimmed and are looking rough, but the more I looked at them, the more I liked them. In the end, I've decided that the middle toe on my left foot is the prettiest. It doesn't have a weird angle to it like some of the others, it's not too big, it's not too small, and it also looks the happiest. If that's a thing.
If I could figure out how to put an arrow to the middle toe, I would. But you can still see it here in all its glory.
Day 1: Success.
Changes: A greater appreciation of my toes
So that's how I arrived here today, on this blog, with a book called This Book Will Change Your Life. Epic sounding, I know. When I first glanced at the title, I assumed it would be a common-sense, self-help-esque pile of boring things that wouldn't change my life at all. And besides, I'm not out to change my life. Just looking for things to do to cure my boredom. Curiosity took over, though, and I began flipping through it. And I must admit that I'm intrigued. The book is essentially 365 tasks for you to do and then write about your experience. But they're not just any old simple task, or tasks that seem to be couched in psycho-babble. In fact, it's rather humorous, and I immediately decided to buy the book and give it a try.
The ground rules: The book is laid out in such a way as to do a different task each day and write about it. The idea is that by the end of a calendar year, you'll have changed, and in the process documented those changes. I'll not be following the "every day" requirement. If I were to do that, then I'd be more likely to cut corners or simply not accomplish a task. And not doing tasks defeats the entire purpose. The deadline will also add stress to this activity, when all I want it for is my personal amusement. So my rule will be that I will do these 365 tasks to the best of my ability, as close to in order as possible, when I have the time. I'll read step one, and then do step one at my earliest convenience. I will then write about it on here, thus documenting and reflecting on the experience.
This is the beginning. Day 1. The Warm-up.
Today a list was given of a variety of things to choose to do that are considered "easy." They are. And, in fact, I've already done most of the options given, so I chose: Decide which one of your toes is the prettiest.
Deciding which toe was prettiest was difficult!! At first I thought it would be the big toe on my right foot, but the more I looked, I began to find beauty in all of them. I've never been a huge fan of feet, and at present, my toenails aren't trimmed and are looking rough, but the more I looked at them, the more I liked them. In the end, I've decided that the middle toe on my left foot is the prettiest. It doesn't have a weird angle to it like some of the others, it's not too big, it's not too small, and it also looks the happiest. If that's a thing.
If I could figure out how to put an arrow to the middle toe, I would. But you can still see it here in all its glory.
Day 1: Success.
Changes: A greater appreciation of my toes
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