Disruption With Purpose

In the opening chapter of Gordon MacKenzie’s “Orbiting the Giant Hairball” he writes, “I loved this! It was – is – what I was made for: disruption of routine. Not pointless disruption. Disruption with purpose.”

As we move into summer disruption is inevitable. Schedules are different. Alarm clocks may not go off as early. Vacations are taking people here and there. Kids must be shuffled to various camps and classes. And if it’s anything like my house, someone is always hungry. So, what do we do? Give purpose to the disruption. This is very different than merely getting out of your normal routine. For example, this summer you might go to the beach which, in this instance, is neutral. It is what you do with that trip to the beach that determines whether it has purpose.

We had the opportunity to go to the beach a few years ago and it was wonderful. The sun was shining. The water was clear. It was everything you could ask for in a beach trip, but if you asked my son, that was the trip where he learned how to snorkel. My friend taught him how-to put-on fins and breathe under water which in and of itself would have been enough for a 9-year-old but learning that skill opened a whole new world. My son literally got to see ocean life he would have otherwise never been able to see. Why? Because my friend (who might I establish already knew how to snorkel) was willing to bring purpose to the disruption. Sure, he could have stayed on the couch and eaten ice cream during the heat of the day and let’s be honest, that would have been the easier option, but he chose “disruption with purpose.” He chose to get off the couch, put on his swim trunks, grab his gear, and open a whole new world for a little boy. As Robert Frost put it, he “took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

May this summer be a summer not only of disruption, but “disruption with purpose.”