How do you adapt to forced stays at home due to CoVID-19? Short trips to nearby places can break up your routine and give you unexpected benefits. I list some of them down in this article after making a four-hour trip to nearby areas.
Sometimes, we think bounded by our minds. Eventually, we settle to a routine which we find comfortable doing as if predictable robots confined by a remote controller. But it takes a little effort to make a change and gain some more perspective.
With the advent of the new year, I resolved to break up my daily routine. I did so this morning, and I reaped some benefits, which I share in the next section.
I drove a 40-kilometer stretch north of the city with an empty mind using my gas-sipping car. It’s a break from home confinement due to CoVID-19. We’re somehow fortunate in our place as the virus appears to have been controlled. Seldom do I hear reports of infections due to CoVID-19.
Living on an island has its benefits. A simple travel restriction can halt the further spread of the virus from other places. But there are pieces of evidence still of local transmission due to intermittent arrivals of potentially virus-positive individuals.
Six Benefits of Short Trips
Here are six benefits you can get from short trips to break up your routine.
1. Short trips divert your mind to something else
Staying at home due to COVID-19 tends to make you focus your thinking on yourself. While out on a short trip that will break up your routine in a productive way, you will feel the excitement of discovering new things.
2. Short trips recharges your car’s battery and lubricates its parts
If you own a car and drive it yourself, that short trip recharges your car’s battery and gets the parts well-oiled, and conditions your vehicle. That will mean fewer visits to the mechanic.
Safety is of utmost concern, so drive safely at the optimal speed of 60 km/hr or even less to enjoy the scenery. Observe the front wheels of the car, bus, or other vehicles in front of you. A little swerve can ruin your trip, so be watchful.
3. Short trips provide an opportunity to see how people live
While parking along the gutter of the highway, I took note of an old man in his 60s or 70s walking along the street in front of me. He has a bolo hanging on a cord slung around his shoulder telling me that that man is a farmer.
It made me think that a man his age can still be productive. He must be going to his farm nearby. And he’s alone.
Questions pop in my head. Does he live alone? Or are his children doing other things aside from farming? It’s a good start for an interesting story.
I’d consider doing a little interview next time while walking with him. I should have done it but it just occurred to me while writing this up. Perhaps I could do that next time. It’s good to know a few folks along the way and see how they live.
4. Short trips facilitate picture taking opportunities
As you go drive through the highway as a deviation to break up your routine, there are spots that hold your attention. These places have a certain level of appeal that prompts you to stop and capture the essence of that appeal.
The following pictures I took along the way speak for themselves. A writer can tell interesting stories about them. I placed a caption of my interpretation under each picture.
5. Short trips lead to discovery
While navigating the highways, I spotted a place where bikers make a stop. It’s a strategically located restaurant with farm products along the highway. It took a biker couple I met in the restaurant an hour to reach the site. They must be hungry.
Indeed, I learned from Jovan, the waiter, that bikers take a break in their restaurant to eat porridge and lomi to regain their energies. The drove of famished bikers sustain their business.
Biking has many health benefits. It will be great to be one of these bikers in the coming weeks.
6. Short trips give you an idea on how people cope up with stress
I heard that many people took refuge to bikes when they do exercise as part of relieving their stress of being confined at home and/or keeping shape. Biking allows anyone a bit of independence from other people.
As bikers huff and puff with every ounce of strength they muster to power their bike, the danger of touching anyone or breathing another’s exhalations is put to a minimum. If you are more athletic and stronger than others, you can easily leave the pack behind.
What I did observe though is that I found no place to spend private moments which is my original intention. I just want to read a book in a private place with no need to spend that much as it wouldn’t take long. I still have to look for that place.
I was home by 10 am. It truly was a break to my routine.
Break up your routine and gain the benefits!
© P. A. Regoniel 3 January 2021
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