Did you notice I didn’t post a curiosity experiment last week? Well, I have no excuse, really – I just didn’t get around to doing it. I thought about sending it out late with an apology, but then I figured no one would be too upset about having one less blog post to read, or one less email in their inbox. (I hope I’m right about that.)
So: this week’s curiosity experiment is about playing hooky.
There’s something wildly liberating about walking around in the midday sun when everyone else is at work, or lounging in bed when you were supposed to be at a party. While I was a very dutiful high school student, I certainly indulged in playing hooky from time to time; a friend and I would wander a couple of blocks to the hippie cafe where we’d drink herbal tea and eat vegan muffins (badass, I know), or browse the aisles of the new age bookstore. (Kitsilano in those days was a vibrant mix of working-class Greek families and hippies.) And over teacups or astrology tomes, we’d grin conspiratorially over how much more fun this was than yet another hour of draining the lifeblood from Catcher in the Rye.
We didn’t bail completely on our commitments, but we lived a little. And in retrospect, I think I made the right choice.
Looking at your commitments for the coming week, what would you like to play hooky from?
What could you do instead that would infuse your day with spontaneity and play?
What happens when you give yourself permission to consider skipping out?