It is incredible how socially aware we are as we walk through life each day. The basic rules of walking from the train station to the office… don’t talk to strangers, don’t walk backwards, don’t take lollypop steps and don’t dance while listening to your ipod. Everything is just walking in straight lines, conservatively walking behind the person in front, not wanting to encroach on others personal space or stand out from the crowd. To overtake or not overtake the person in front of you? What about if you see someone you know, to talk or not to talk – these are the internal debates we have as we conduct these 10 minutes walks through life trying to just get by without making a scene.
So when today’s challenge popped up that I needed to dance down the street while listening to an ipod, I needed to be suitably swept away in another world, so to not notice the social norm I was breaking. It happened to come in the form on a Sales CD a friend had made at work to give to our sales reps so they could hear the messages again from a course they had attended and keep the positivity flowing. I had listened to this CD for the last week or so, and it was coming to its climatic finale today, and something unexpected happened… a song came over the CD at the conclusion that I was not expecting…
The Road to Amarillo.
(unrelated picture of a Stormtrooper who has hijacked my ipod as I have no photographic proof of my dancing down the street while listening to ipod)
The memories of this song created visions in my head of a corporate video made by my crazy friend, who had somehow convinced the most senior managers in our organisation to dance down the halls of the corporate office around the country. The vision of awkward dancing and funny moments came flooding back as I jumped into a little dance myself as I was on my walk to the office.
I didn’t look around, I was not aware of my surroundings – I just listened and walked to the sound of the music and had a jig in my step and movement in my arm, that perhaps some would call this a dance… What a great surge of positivity to start the day. Today was going to be a great day! I recommend to one and all, lose yourself before you get to the office during that 10 minute walk… remember to look out for traffic still.. but have 10 minutes of internal isolation and do whatever you want to do to make sure you have a smile on your face when those lift doors open up at level 6.
