Going Out Of The Way To Explore

Spontaneous detour

Heading over to a local park the other day shined a light on a side of myself that I rarely notice, but as I reflected on the experience, I realized it’s something I do quite commonly.

I’d made a decision while navigating in my car that possibly took me out of the “optimal” route, but gave me a view of an area that I wasn’t familiar with.

Do you ever find yourself choosing an alternative that has a bit of risk or unfamiliarity to it – just to get the chance to explore or learn something new?

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Route planning

Everyone’s got “the optimal route” planned out for frequent trips, right?

The commute to work – that you make five days a week.

To the school.

To your parents, and friends.

How often do you think of taking a different route, just to see what else there is to see?

A couple minutes out of your way

Ok – it might take more than just a couple of minutes. But do you really need to be there as soon as possible?  Would a couple of additional minutes change things that much?

Well that’s what I thought on the way over to the cross country race at the nearby park.

I was meeting up with my wife and daughter who was running that afternoon.

When I approached an intersection with the standard park entrance on the right, I went left.

Yup – the other way around the block. (A big block here as the large park took up much of it, but still the other way;-)

The view from the other side

And so I saw a section of road I don’t recall seeing.

I’m sure at some point in my life I’ve been down that particular road, but not in a long time.

And then I got to approach the park from the West instead of the South and East…

Not astounding, but still…

The thought process

If I do things only as I’ve done them, I’m not finding out more about the situation.

Like trying new foods or restaurants.

Like trying out a new sport or game.

Like meeting new people in new locations.

And opening myself to new experiences, knowledge, and emotions.

Just for the heck of it.

Worth much more than a few minutes of time

As I’ve continued to think about this since then, it struck me that I have a habit of doing just this – exploring for no good reason other than it’s interesting.

Not every bit of time used this way has paid me back, but several have returned more than my investment. And that’s why one does this sort of thing, isn’t it? Investing in the future.

There’s the chance that you’ll end up down the wrong one-way street, of eating food that you know will give you indigestion, or talking to boring people.

But there’s the potential of finding the perfect spot to watch a sunset, of baking the best desert ever, or finding a great partner.

And that upside carries much more weight than one single encounter that you’ll choose not to repeat again.

So the question of the day – what explorations have you been making recently?