Back in the middle of April, I had talked about receiving a phone interview with the Government of Alberta for an Emerging Technologies Specialist position. They liked me enough to fly me down for a second interview and I guess the second interview was also really good so they offered me a job working in Edmonton.
To say that the decision was difficult would be an understatement.
On the one hand, I had been looking for work for 4 months and had not any successful job offers during that time though I did have several phone interviews which did not seem to lead anywhere. The job experience that I would get from this position was very good and may even enable me to gain an incredible job afterwards depending on the opportunities available.
On the other hand, to leave Vancouver to work in Edmonton would force me to uproot my whole established life and routine and plant it down in Edmonton where I had few friends, no family and almost no network of people I could rely on for support.
I believe that the biggest factor for me for accepting this position was the fact that we were still in the recession and job offers did not come easily during this time. That's not to say that the job was bad, it is actually quite a flexible position with lots of ties into technology; I'm saying that given a job offer in Edmonton and a similar position in Vancouver, I would probably have chosen Vancouver.
In any case, once I accepted the position, I had a few weeks to tearfully say goodbye to my friends, either through surprise dinners, planned dinners, coffees or lunches. The biggest worry that I had before my move to Edmonton was finding a place to live. Although there were many resources online that I used, it was hard to choose a place until I saw it in person.
Fast forward a week or two and I have a bachelor apartment about 2 blocks away from where I work downtown. Though not as close to all the amenities as I would like, it certainly wasn't a big downside since the transit system in Edmonton was decent.
Once I found housing, my concerns transitioned from housing to my daily and weekly routine, after all, I had full-time work now. I was terribly homesick, but I knew that once I got into a routine, my life would finally settle down and I would stop thinking about my home in Vancouver.
It was during the time that I was trying to figure out my routine, I realized that I reverted back to some of my old routines that I went through before. Like cooking extra food for dinner and packing the extra food for lunch the next day on weekdays. Or watching streams of my favorite shows aired the day before while eating dinner. Or even cooking complete meals in my trustworthy and reliable rice cooker so that I did not have to wait around for food to finish cooking.
Why did I revert back to these old routines I had gone through before? Why didn't I just create new routines given my new environment and lifestyle?
I guess it was because I found comfort in the familiarity of the routines.
Not only is it the reason I do those things, it's also probably the reason I order the same items (chirashi, sashimi) at all the Japanese restaurants I go to; it's probably the reason I really just shop for clothing at relatively cheap stores like Esprit and Old Navy; and it's probably the reason I cook the same things every week or so. It's easy. It doesn't require a lot of thought. And it reminds me of how comforting life was in the past.
And because of the routine, things are easy now; things dont require a lot of thought now; and things are fairly comfortable now.
I also think it may be the reason people order the same things at restaurants or go to the same type of restaurants all the time (or even go to the same restaurant and order the same thing every single time). It's safe. It's (probably) good. And any time they become adventurous and order something else that isn't good, it seems to reinforces the idea of sticking with what is good and familar, rather than trying to be adventurous.
As a final note, I had to purchase some laundry detergent yesterday. I went to Shopper's
Drug Mart, looked around and finally came to some different laundry detergents. As I always do, I compared the prices (locally on the shelves, and not at different stores) and finally landed on the Gain laundry brand which seemed to be cheap compared to the other detergents. There were 2 brands of Gain laundry detergent and I think if you saw the same thing I did, the choice would have been as obvious for you as it was for me.
How do you feel? Are there routines that you go through just because you're familiar with them? Are there restaurants that you always go to or food that you always order?
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