why we should live in the pool and not a box

It seems we all live in boxes these days, we have our houses, our cars, our own little lives that seem to become very isolated from other people sometimes. We go about our lives every day, and sometimes hardly interact with the world around us at all. It’s like we live in a box, a box that separates us from the outside world and from our environment. Inside our boxes we have all the things we need to survive on our own, we no longer need to depend on others to survive, we can get food for ourselves from the grocery store, we can “talk” to other people through the internet, a person can literally survive completely on their own, there is no need for them to interact with others at all. This may seem like a good thing, but I actually think it is not good at all.

The other day in class Sammi talked about how when you are a pool you are constantly surrounded by your environment and you can explore your surroundings. I feel like this is a great example of how we should live our lives, rather than living in a box where we hardly interact with our environment, we should live in a pool. We should constantly be exploring our environment and interacting with it. We shouldn’t be living lives that don’t require interaction with our environment and other people. I had never thought about life like this before Sammi made this comparison in class, but to me it makes complete sense, when I think about what it feels like to be under water it’s like everything is in slow motion and you can take all the time you want to really see what is going on around you and you are just surrounded by water at all times. I can only imagine what everyday life would feel like if you treated it like you were under water. You would constantly be experiencing new things and seeing things you had never bothered to notice before. Even things as simple as the beauty of a tree or grass could seem much more intense if you really experienced it and thought about it rather than just living in a box and barely acknowledging it.

This is something I definitely need to work on, often I end up walking to class with my headphones in and lost in my own thoughts, I hardly even smile or wave at the people walking by me, let alone notice anything else. But sometimes, I find my way out of my own head and I pay attention to everything and it really is amazing how astounding our surroundings are, the even more amazing thing is how little I see of all of it because of the box I seem to live in. My challenge to you is to try and jump out of your box, even if you are just sticking one toe out, it’s amazing what you may see or experience.