While You Were Sleeping

It’s 6 am. I leap out of bed and scurry down to the gym for a run on the treadmill. When I arrive, the gym is pitch black from the outside. I swing open the door thinking, ‘Great! I’ve got the gym all to myself!’ Instead, what do I find?

Surprise! There’s a large man huffing and puffing on the treadmill, listening to his MP3 player, in the chilly dark.

‘I looked all over the place for the light switch,’ he says by way of an explanation for what must be a serious breach of health and safety – his health, his safety. ‘The heating’s not working either’, he adds as a matter-of-fact.

I give the room a quick scan, find nothing, then remember there’s a house phone by the gym entrance. Within 5 minutes, the large man is gone, an engineer’s been and I’m running in the light and warmth.

Old Habits Die Hard

Many of us adapt quicky. Too quickly. The problem comes when accommodating inconveniences becomes a habitual way of being. The most insidious thing of all is when such habits crystallise into a de facto way of living. Just think.