Can you guess where this photo was taken? Leave me a note in the comments if you were able to guess right away.
I won't keep you in suspense. This is a photo taken from my dashboard while I was inside a carwash. One day when I was having my house cleaned, I decided to leave the house to get away from the noises of the vacuum cleaner. I knew I needed gas for my car, so I left my house just to go get gas. I usually leave the house when the housekeeping staff is there, and leave my husband home to supervise. Normally, I would go to the gym when the housekeeping staff is cleaning, but that hasn't been an option for me this year.
Before I selected the fuel grade I wanted to purchase, I was prompted to select whether or not I wanted a car wash. I hadn't been through a car wash in a long time, and I decided to try it out. Saying yes to the carwash meant that I could be out of the house a little longer. After I filled up my tank, I took my receipt and handed it to the car wash attendant, and then the fun began. Little did I know what an immersive experience this would be.
I loved watching the colorful, soapy bubbles cascading down my windshield. I I loved watching the spinning brushes dancing around in different directions cleaning my car with the constant thumps and bumps of the brushes. I enjoyed the the whirring sound of the fierce fans blowing water droplets off of my car as I went through the dry cycle. When I got out of my car to take a look, I was pleased. I had a clean car and my tires looked pretty spiffy. The experience I had while going through the car wash felt like a beautiful, staged theater piece or a well-choreographed dance routine that leaves you breathless at the end.
When I told my husband about my experience, he thought I was nuts. He' s very practical, and, to him, a carwash is a carwash (not very exciting). The next time he was out of gas, I guided him towards my favorite gas station that has this particular carwash that I now regularly go to. I told him, "You have to go through this carwash! Just try it. I think you'll love it!". I wanted him to experience the carwash a more artistic, creative point of view. I wanted to see if we would see the carwash in in a new way.
I have to give him props for being willing to try because all I was asking was that he be willing to try it out. It was fun to watch him experience a carwash from a brand new perspective--looking at the bubbles, colors, listening to the sounds, seeing the big brushes dancing around. He did admit afterwards that he did enjoy the carwash, and the experience triggered a childhood memory he had of going through the carwash as a kid and enjoying it with his siblings.
My husband and I recently went to the immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Chicago in August 2021. In this exhibit, photographs of Van Gogh's art was projected onto the walls, and there were different pictures that kept rotating with movement all choreographed to several different music styles. The exhibit lasted 35 minutes, and then it would repeat. We were allowed to stay for as long as we wanted to. There were different sized rooms where you could experience the exhibit from that offered us the opportunity to watch the same 35 minute show from different perspectives and angles-large rooms, small rooms, a balcony standing up or sitting down. We stayed for three viewings of the show and watched the 35 minutes projection from all three perspectives.
The carwash experience I had reminded me of the immersive Van Gogh exhibit we saw, in a way, because of how I love the idea of seeing things from a new or different perspective. Reinterpreting the mundane and normal and turning it into a brand new perspective for someone is genius in my eyes. Not everyone will appreciate, get or follow a new perspective on something, and that's ok. However, being brave enough to put yourself out there and try to offer something new from a new perspective takes bravery and courage. Finding joy out of the muck of live and sharing it with others also takes an incredible amount of creative thinking.
When I coach, I am asking my client to try something new or see something from a different perspective, just like I asked my husband to see the carwash from a new perspective. As a coach, I am constantly looking for new ways to make things fun and see things from a different angle or perspective to keep myself sharp and fresh. I love finding new experiences to try out. Every new experience I have benefits my coaching practice and also benefits personal aspects of my life and my other business I run.
I encourage you to try something new in your day or try and find the beauty in something you do everyday that feels mundane and boring. Yes a carwash is just a carwash. But when I changed how I experience it and noticed the beauty around me, I was really grateful for the experience because it made me see it in a different way. I look forward to getting gas because I know that the carwash is waiting for me just around the corner.
Love and peace,
Sara
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