twoplustwoequalsblog

Before going to college, my life had always been extremely simple. All of my experiences fit nicely into simple contexts. People I knew were family, from South Windsor, from 4H Camp, from Robotics, or some other umbrella category. I went on vacation with my family, I went to 4H Camp, I traveled to Robotics events; rarely did any of these groups meet.

My first flavor of what was to come was at my graduation party. It was weird having my friends from school and my family (both sides!) all over my house for a big party. My cousins sat at the same table as my neighbors. It was like a summary of my life thus far under my roof. The party came and went - it was just a foreshadowing - and things returned to normal for the rest of the summer.

Going home last weekend was the first stage of my realization. Following the drive home from Olin, I walked into my house and dropped my backpack like I always had on coming home from school, ready to go up the stairs to the computer and check my e-mail. But that computer didn’t have my login anymore. My room had been cleaned and the sheets were changed. Everything was still there; why did it seem so different?
Jess, Justin and I visited Monica, and the four of us traded notes on college. We all talked about what we’d been doing for fun and complained about that class we didn’t like. I’d hung out with these same people in that same place before, but it seemed so different this time. We didn’t live in the same town anymore. Our meeting was temporary, and soon we were all back to our new lives.

Today I went to Boston College and visited Erin and Jeff. Chris and my mom were up for family weekend and came along to check out BC. It was so weird walking around BC’s campus with Chris, Jeff and Erin. Here were four of us from South Windsor, but who were these people Jeff and Erin kept saying hello to as we passed? Erin’s dorm was decorated just like her room at home, and Jeff predictably has a Gamecube on his floor: microcosms of their old lives that they brought with them. While Erin was giving us the tour of the dining hall, we ran into Joe. I haven’t seen Joe since 8th grade. But there he was, in Boston. Here were my grade-school friends from my childhood showing me around their college. Weird.

So what is the thread that runs through all of this? We are used to seeing the world in certain contexts. When people and places and events are removed from their usual context and put in another one, it throws us for a loop. When my house was somewhere I was temporarily be staying instead of where I lived, that was a completely different context than I was used to. When I visited Erin and Jeff at BC and they showed me around, it wasn’t the same context I have known them for over half my life in. I’m not going to wake up tomorrow in my house and go to school with my friends from South Windsor. It’s like putting Charlie Brown in a Dilbert strip. Your brain just gets confused.

That being said, confusing your brain is one of the best exercises you can give it. Don’t get stuck in the ruts of routine. Break habits; do something unusual; combine otherwise disparate elements of your life. You’ll get a new perspective on what you’ve come to take for granted.