"Are we just wasting time?"
Routine is a curse that plagues us all. We wait, and wait for a sudden shift that just won't come. We feel stuck, even when we get things done. It's like wriggling in quick sand, you're moving but you're not progressing. You're nowhere closer to getting out than you were just moments ago.
Dreamless people roam these streets. Their existences about as important as a grain of sand on a beach. Fragments of the greater mass, but not relevant. Routine's not just a curse to them, but their entire life.
Ever since I was young I felt this way. As though others were "hollow," that they were set to accomplish nothing in life or if they were that it'd be a regular, boring achievement—nothing unique. Yet, much like Michelle, who was I to call these people hollow? I wasn't doing anything—sure I had an active imagination and frequently indulged in writing, but I was just an observer. A grain of sand. Going through routine, hating every second. Waiting for something to change.
But when change came, it was from action. Someone else getting the courage to speak to me, a complete stranger. My decision to join a group, start going to a third space. Big shake ups, sure, but eventually the days would blend together. Even these exciting events became nothing important. I was no longer waiting for an event, but just another day to speak to the same people.
It's like setting yourself on fire. It's a sudden combustion, the heat takes over and panic sets in. The pain is excruciating. But it's a slow death, you writhe, and writhe until death. A sudden shake up, followed by it slowly blurring together into what we call routine.
Michelle's experiences, a whole lot of thinking on my end, and conversations with friends made me realize something.
Routine's no curse. It's the few final stages of everything before its end or death. Practicing a new hobby eventually becomes routine. A cool new person you met, talking to them becomes routine. A new school, a new job, everything.
No one is hollow, we're simply human. Set Yourself on Fire teaches us that routine is necessary for us as human beings, and to be content with it.
Without it no day would be special. You need mundanity, normalcy for life to surprise you with little thrills that eventually assimilate with that normalcy.
Through reading this story, writing this review, and just contemplating life I've come to the conclusion that ultimately whether we hate routine or are content with it is a matter of world view. Michelle and I weren't stuck because of routine, we were stuck because we viewed normalcy, mundanity as something hollow and tried putting ourselves above it.
We paid attention to the blurs, fruitlessly trying to make out the image behind the veil. When she and I stopped and we let life happen we grew content with it all.
Never be sorry for your little time. Live your lives.
Grow content with routine, for love is full of it.
Set Yourselves on Fire.
