Bodies get used to routines and minds are hard-wired to carry out certain tasks in certain ways with certain body parts.
I was awkwardly reminded of this over Labor Day weekend when we took our little camper out to the lake to relax. We have a small camper trailer and in case you are wondering, “It sleeps two.”
Even if it slept more, that would be our answer. Manufacturers always tote that their camper sleeps six or eight. (sure, if you sleep on every available horizontal surface)
Our camper is actually quite small and only sleeps two.
It is the smallest two-axle camper (I think) you can buy with a slide out, a queen sized bed, a small kitchen, and a bathroom with a toilet that isn’t located in the shower.
Plastic Brains
Our brains become so accustomed to tasks that are repeated again and again and again that the actions to some degree run on autopilot.
This was evident after I washed and exited the small shower in the bathroom of our little camper. I quickly towelled off and was in a rush to get dressed because the a/c was blowing on me and giving me a chill. I was in such a hurried state that for some reason I put my slightly wet left foot through my boxers first.
The problem is I’m a right-first-foot kind of guy, always have been.
The left went in and through without a hitch, but when I followed up with my right foot, my body froze in confusion.
Like a computer program stuck in an endless loop I stood there with my right foot aimed downwards unable to move.
In the end, I prevailed when I consciously took over the otherwise subconscious task and ordered my foot to step down.
Good or Bad?
The human body and mind has been honed to not only survive but to thrive. Our mind’s ability to learn and grow by way of neural-plasticity compliments and is undoubtedly connected to the auto-pilot-mode where a task is so thoroughly understood it is done without much (if any) thought.
I don’t disparage the fact that I’m a right-foot-first fellow, but I think if I needed to, I could change.
Photo by Isaac Moore on Unsplash
