Sunday Surprise: A rose by any other name? A look at life through a different lens

For our first ever Sunday Surprise, I’m delighted to bring you our first community post from 3D artist, blogger and all round super star Heather Craik. She has an original voice so if you don’t already, I recommend you follow her on Twitter and subscribe to her blog. I’m no artist but she always brings something fresh to the mix.

Speaking of fresh, look out for something of a surprise on Wednesday. Heather is undertaking an audio challenge based on today’s blog post. I’ll tell you more tomorrow but just wanted to give you a heads up. It’s going to be fun But without further ado, Heather, over to you:

Let’s say I give you two choices for how you spend your day:

Option 1

You’re bored. You get up in the morning to the blare of your alarm clock, brush your teeth, get washed, dressed, jump in the car, and drive to work. Or something similarly uninspiring. You get to work; you sit at a computer, maybe even answer phones. The day drags on worse than your kid’s wellies through mud.

Wait that was too descriptive, let me try again; the day drags on. You finish your shift, jump in your car, head home. Have dinner with your family, possibly put the kids to bed, then vegetate in front of the TV or do more work.

Option 2

You would be bored if you were paying attention. You’re dragged awake by the early warning sirens (you silence them quickly, false alarm), then you head off to clean the fairy dust from your teeth; you have a habit of munching on them during your sleep. You get washed head to toe and slip into your super-suit then your work clothes.

Your space craft is waiting ready for you, though you end up sitting in a traffic jam behind some station with really powerful deflector beams. You know this because you tried to clear the way with your lasers and they bounced off; ah well.

At work you’re faced by a tall, greasy member of the management team sporting an old-fashioned dress and stuffed peacock hat. He’s defeated by your Epic Spork of Laughter +5. All day on the phones you’re left to deal with irate and/or old little munchkins (you don’t mind, they’re suitably adorable). By the end of the day you’ve got a smile of non-discontent; not exactly contentment but not far from it. Back into the space ship to head home; just as crowded only this time you’re stuck behind one of those sporty one-man fighters. Still, you refrain from hailing it angrily and get home in relatively good humour.

The angels are sent off to bed without a hitch, and your queen and you settle down for some quality monarch time.

See the difference there? Same tasks on the same day.

I don’t see why we have to view our days, the way we spend our time, and how we live our lives as completely mind-numbingly boring. Maybe what we have to do is tedious, maybe it sucks the soul from you faster than a Grandmother can suck eggs, but there’s no reason you have to play by the rules within your own head. When I was working in a call centre, I got through it by visualizing each and every customer as a munchkin, a la Wizard of Oz. It didn’t make my day full of rainbows and sunshine, but it made it bearable (though admittedly, so did counting down the minutes until break/lunch/home time). The point I’m trying to make is:

Don’t give other people or tasks permission to bore you. Life’s fun! Let’s treat it as such.

So what about you? How do you cope with the boring tasks in your life? Lets compare war stories.

Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net