The Groundhog saw his shadow
As a movie premise, it was pretty funny the first few times. Bill Murray’s groundhog day start gets repeated over and over until it gets annoying. Not only to him, but to the viewer. Because it gives us a feeling that we may be familiar with. When you realize that the same exact interactions are going to occur again and again, we want to dispense with our nervousness. The events are neither fun nor providing any happiness and we just want them to stop and life to move on.
Repeat after me
That familiar feeling is what we call stuck. Such a harsh word for lack of forward motion. When it happens in our real lives, we fixate on the sensation that life is flat. Parents experience this when toddlers want the same book read over and over at night. They start to skip parts and get called out for it. There is a lesson to be learned there but it is mostly that the toddler has memorized the storyline. They are still content to hear it again but only if it is in the right order. They are comforted by the predictability; the parents are bored and want to read something new.
Encore performance
We have a tendency to want to repeat pleasurable things. Taco Tuesday is a socially acceptable decision. My mother served spaghetti and meatballs for dinner every Wednesday. The weekly book club provides a chance to discuss someone else’s problems. Even Meatless Monday encourages us to choose something better. We embrace the repetition of these ideas because they are fun, or taste good or eliminate having to make a decision. How we differentiate between the reprised items and the things we are already tired of may be because we are turning into the stuff that we repeat. Listening to the same piece of music over and over may leave it in your ear and cause you to search for another new song. This isn’t bad if what we are repeating is a new and exciting morning routine that includes those better habits we have been meaning to try. But it’s not great if it is the same disagreement over and over about who has to do the dishes.
Duplication
Maybe it is the fault of math. Those multiplication sing songs we performed to create knowledge might have backfired. But maybe it is just a sign to look for something new. Boredom all by itself is wonderful. If left to be experienced, it can tell you stuff. It quietly and gently nudges you to examine what you are repeating so that you can make some necessary changes. When your routine is running well, there is nary a groundhog in site. So look around you and check out the wildlife. We all need to visit with nature occasionally. Watch those animals carefully; you may notice they don’t duplicate their steps much.
Can you resist what you repeat if it isn’t working well? Routines can be great; which of yours are working and which can use some updating? Is it annoying to be stuck so that you will want to change?
