Sometimes, I think about the Dunkin’ Donuts Guy. He was the guy from their ad campaign which started many years back. In fact, I think it was the early 1980s. Fred the Baker was his name.
His alarm would go off in the morning, and he’d say, “Time to make the donuts.” Day in, day out. He did the same thing. Off to the Dunkin’ Donuts store, where he would make the donuts all the long day. Home to bed. And the very next morning, that alarm would go off again. And guess what time it was.
Yep. Time to make the donuts.
The other day, I was out and about, talking with an old friend. And I asked her, how things were going; what was new; how she was; and those sorts of things. She smiled lightly and said, “Oh, you know. Same old, same old.”
Others have said it in other ways.
“Same old sh!t. Different day.”
“Been there, done that.”
“Another day, another dollar.”
And on. The continuum.
Personally, I like routine.
Some may say that is mundane, but it is not. Webster describes “mundane” in two different ways. The definition goes.
1. lacking interest or excitement
2. of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one
Routine is defined as “a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program” — which is right up my alley. And as you can see, they are quite different at the very core of them.
I think most of us, due to our work, or our life situations, have a “routine” that we follow. It’s a human sort of thing to do. Even Bob, from “Bob’s Skydiving and Daredevil School” has his daily routines. “Well, it’s about time to take the next sucker up in the airplane and push him out the door from 13,000 feet.” And on.
I believe, the trick of it, routine or not, is to start noticing and appreciating.
It isn’t the job we choose, or our marriages, or our activities. It isn’t the vacations we take, to break that routine. I think the thing that makes our skirts ruffle, is this. That in each and every day, in some small way — we seek to amaze. Or perhaps, we find that we are amazed. Truly.
Even if we are making the donuts.
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“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”
― Erol Ozan
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“It’s the unknown that draws people.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly,
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“We are what we believe we are!”
― C.S. Lewis
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