Monday, February 7, 2011

Getting out of ruts

It's good to take advantage of opportunities for something new every now and then.

I had occasion the other day to visit an area of the city I don't know well. The city is Washington, DC, and there are huge hunks of it I've either never visited or visited only briefly.

I had to take care of an administrative task in connection with my volunteer work with the National Park Service. Since this task could be done at any number of sites around Washington, I looked for a site near Metro (parking is a bear in downtown DC) and away from my usual haunts. I chose a federal government agency near Union Station solely on the basis of those two criteria.

It was odd how merely going around Union Station to the east side instead of the west took me to an area I had never been before. Just a small change. Yeah, OK, it's an area full of office buildings. Big deal. But ...

The added bonus was the agency building -- innovative architecture with an interesting curved window wall. The individual chunks of glass appeared to be suspended on cables. Great return on a small change from the familiar.

So, use a different bank branch, grocery store, restaurant. Read a different kind of book. It doesn't have to be a huge departure from the usual. And open your mind to something new.