Variety = Happiness?
There’s a strong case for shaking up your routine.
Variety really is the spice of life. With routine comes sameness and, with little to distinguish one day from another, the days can easily blend into each. That’s a relatively minor problem, except, perhaps, that such sameness affects our happiness, attentiveness, and relaxation.
That conclusion is from a 2020 paper in Nature Neuroscience. Basically, it says that a diversity of experiences promotes well-being both in humans and in animals. The researchers followed the GPS signals of 132 adults for three to four months and asked them to assess their mood every other day.
They found that people who went to different places regularly said they had more positive feelings than those who followed the same routine day after day. The opposite is true, too. The less you change your geographic location, the less motivated you become to go exploring. Days fade into sameness and before you know it, a year has passed without any significant differences day-to-day.
Where are you on that spectrum?
I’m not saying you have to jet halfway around the world to get the benefits of variety. You can get the same benefits simply by shaking up your routine. Even small variations matter.
If you’re willing to shake things up, here are some ideas:
· Explore a new neighborhood.
· Try a different lunch spot or coffee shop.
· Choose a different destination for your evening walk.
· Get off the highway one exit early.
When we lived in the suburbs, we had lots of different places to walk or bike. They often involved favorite parks, In-n-Out, or a taco stand. Regardless our destination, there were paths to get there easily. Today, I miss the miles of bike trails that made it to easy to get around that town!
Living in the country, miles of bike trails are aspirations. The nearby logging roads are off-limits during the summer (to mitigate the potential for fire danger) or they need a paid permit to bike them. I think it’s easy to fall into a rut.
My husband disputes that. He points beyond the house and starts listing projects. He’s out and about on the land a lot more than I am.
My life where the asphalt ends tends to be closer to the house. I’m not typically the one walking the fence line to spot breaks in the barbed wire or the one hiking up the valley to check on the cattle. So, when I admitted several years ago that I hadn’t left the property in the past month, friends were amazed and, I think, a bit concerned. Admittedly, they also didn’t know much about our land.
There’s a lot of variety here, and an afternoon walk can take us from what I lovingly call the marsh, through evergreen forests, and along streams to logging roads where a person could wander (most of the year) for miles. But if I’m looking for a new lunch spot, I’m out of luck...unless you count taking that lunch outside or to a different part of the house to eat it. (I do.)
Over the years Randy has improved the paths through the forest. He’s designing new walks—which means trimming up branches and cutting back blackberry brambles—to let us explore new areas more easily. Sometimes I help (but it’s mostly him).
It’s a work in progress, but each project adds differentiation and keeps our days from blending into one another. All in all, I’d say we get just enough variety.
If you’re considering making the leap to country living, think about what really matters to you, and assess the tradeoffs. It’s not for everybody. But, if you think if might be for you…or if you love gardening, which is a frequent topic of mine, subscribe. It’s free. I promise not to spam you. There’s literally nothing to lose.
Well-put, Gail. We moved from San Francisco to Sonoma County a number of years ago. It’s easy to fall into patterns. We deal with it by volunteering at the food bank, and playing with local brass bands. That and lots of gardening.