"You don't travel to see different things, you travel to see things differently." - I found this thoughtful quote in a YouTube comment related to the film 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' and after a little internet detective work, I traced the source to Ben Davenport, someone who despite having Noonan Syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting the formation of the skeleton and causing congenital heart disease issues, has challenged himself to travel the world and document his adventures.
I love that he inscribed this quote on the door to his Landrover.
As Software Engineers, many of us have probably been in the same routine since the Covid Pandemic forced us to retreat to the cosy womb-like comforts of our home with our internet connection becoming our umbilical cord providing sustenance of food deliveries and entertainment.
Perhaps we're now too comfortable, and it's affecting our thinking, maybe we've become mentally rigid and inflexible as well as physically.
Travel forces us to change our perspective and if we're honest with ourselves, our home routines may not be providing the variety of perspectives our human spirits thrive off.
Perhaps it is time to force ourselves to try spending the occasional day back in the office with work colleagues? I wonder if our employers would benefit from encouraging us to work from a holiday cottage for a week? Or perhaps we should force ourselves to work from a coffee shop occasionally or get out for that morning walk?
Changing our physical locality forces a different perspective, induces creativity, and probably helps us to solve Software Engineering problems in different ways.
Ben Davenport, the author of the opening quote, has an Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/benjydavenport
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