I live on Florida’s Space Coast. Which means that about once a month, I get to see something truly remarkable: a rocket launching into outer space.
But, I can get complacent. On April 11, Space X Launched it’s Heavy Rocket (which is a particularly cool rocket) and simultaneously landed its three reusable rocket boosters (two on launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center and the third on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean) in a truly remarkable feat of aerospace engineering.
I missed the launch because I was in between classes at my taekwondo school, lost track of time, and didn’t step outside to watch.
All I had to do was walk outside and look up, and I would have seen a historic spaceflight with my own eyes.
I’m not going to give myself a super hard time about this, but it reminded me how often we can become accustomed to the extraordinary aspects of our every day lives. Clean running water in our homes. The internet. The fact the occasionally historic space flights occur in your backyard.
On the personal level, we can also become desensitized to our own gifts and talents. I know that I often take my own martial arts skill for granted. I don’t always appreciate my own skills or the good work I do.
Sometimes it can be helpful to imagine yourself as a tourist in your own community. Take a day to do visit someone else work place or environment. Or do something else to shake up your perspective on your own life, experience and surroundings to help you appreciate the remarkable things and people that surround you every day.
Let me know if you try this or if you have any tips for avoiding ruts and complacency in your everyday life!
On the Banks 