There's a Harvard professor who teaches a course (and has written a book) on happiness. One of his more interesting points is the role of variety.
Variety, he says, is a coping mechanism for dealing with the law of diminishing returns. E.g., after having chicken sandwiches at Wendy's every day for a week, you want something to break the routine, so that your brain finds it interesting again.
That's probably obvious, but his less obvious point is that you don't necessarily need variety for things you don't partake in constantly. There is also a value in routines, in rituals.
Moving to a new city, new apartment, new job, brings a lot of excitement and variety. It also causes a loss of rituals.
Fairfax rituals I miss:
Sunday morning breakfast at the Vienna Inn
Saturday disc golf at Burke Lake Park
Little Cheeseburgers from Five Guys
Custard from Nielsens
Sunday afternoon blackended fish special from Sweetwater Tavern
Fresh chips n salsa in my reserved lunch booth at Chevy's
"Lost" pizza parties with the work gang
Interesting how many revolve around (or at least involve) food.
Interesting how memory seems to be composed of rituals, one-off adventures, and white noise.
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4 comments:
How long does it take to cement new rituals? We've been here for almost a year now, and other than Yoga, spinning, walking the dog, and the grocery store, I have yet to see any emerging patterns.
Things I miss about Auburn:
The sound of C's car on Friday evenings.
The flowers on Woodfield every spring.
The electricity of incoming traffic and student excitement on game days.
Lunch with fellow GTAs during which we gripe, moan, and giggle.
Things I miss about Tucson:
A slap in the face with the view of the Catalinas when I left our apartment, Target, the grocery store, or work.
Cacti.
The blue, blue, blue sky.
Things I miss about Plano:
ABUELOS -- does anyone else make Mexican food like that?
Shopping with Cara.
Now here; waiting, not so patiently, for new rituals,
Perrykat
People make the city.
(Included in "people", of course, are friends you can talk with--- and girls with cute underwear).
But a very very close second, and sometimes even closer, is the food.
God bless cute underwear.
no...no one makes food like ABUELOS!!
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