This post is part of the Sparking Zing series: I came across a list online of “things to do to feel happy”. My life has become an exploration of what it means to be happy so this list formed the perfect basis for a very-very-scientific experiment. I’m trying each of the suggestions on the list to assess how each of them impacts my happiness levels. (Hereon referred to as Sparking Zing). If you’d like a visual accompaniment, you can also follow along with my journey as I document it on my Instagram stories here.
Sparking Zing Experiment Two: Walk the scenic route
This one sounded easy enough in theory, but putting it into practice was a struggle for me. I am notoriously efficient so walking a longer-than-necessary route goes against everything I stand for. OK, not everything I stand for but I don’t like it.
I’m the opposite of an inspirational poster in that I focus more on the destination than the journey.
(That admission would probably cause some very, very enlightened person out there to gasp into their hot water and lemon.)
If I was faced with two equidistant route options and one was prettier than the other, sure I’d take the scenic route every time. Otherwise, I’m choosing the route of least resistance.
Very-very-scientific findings: Unsuccessful trial. No zing sparked by walking the scenic route. Tried it for a week, mostly felt annoyed.