Every Day

… is different. It’s because of the weather, or the meeting schedule, or how well you slept last night. Believe it or not, routine varies from day to day. Nothing is the same twice. It may seem like it, but it’s not.

Take my ocean view, for instance. I caught myself ho-humming about it one morning. The water is always blue, the mountains are always in the same place, and the sun always moves from east to west. Snore.

Then I thought, wait a minute, Ru. How many shades of blue has the ocean been, and sometimes all at once? At any time on any day it can be green or grey or pewter or sapphire or white. It can be pink and orange and silver, and if you toss in a breeze, embroider it with whitecaps.

As for the stationary mountains, why do they look closer from the cemetery than they do from the Point? On a cloudy day, they’re not there at all, and on other days, they appear to float above the clouds. Snow-capped, snow-dusted, veiled in mist or etched in blazing sun, they may be the same old mountains, but they’re always a little different from the day before.

Appreciating subtlety is a rare commodity in this age of extremity. Everything from laundry soap to sporting events is tagged as ultra, super, or extreme. The dumbest movies ever made must be seen in 3D or IMAX. A good day is no longer an option. The scale starts with “great” and anything less is a failure. Only it’s not. Really. A day is a day, unique unto itself, and how we handle it will depend on how we feel at the time. No matter how it rolls or what the outcome, all we can do in the moment is our best, and our best is subject to variables that make it run the gamut from “sublime” to “sucked out loud”.

Humans are creatures of habit. We might complain about the humdrum of it, but we like our routine. By all means, follow it daily—but take some time to notice the little differences. I guarantee you’ll see something you haven’t seen before.

With love,