Do you always go to the same supermarket? I do. The one nearest to me, where I know where absolutely everything is, and have begun to recognise some of the staff members. It makes the weekly shop much easier and faster, as I can find everything easily and know the products well.

But last week, my favourite supermarket was closed. There had been some fault in the building and repair work needed to be done, so I was left to turn elsewhere for my shopping. It sounds ridiculous, but in the humdrum of how much our worlds have shrunk in the past two years, venturing out to a different supermarket almost felt like an adventure. I ended up in a new place, and with a few new types of ingredients and treats to bring home.

It reminded me of the advice I often give to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. I hadn’t been following it recently and had slipped into routine, in more areas than just which supermarket I was going to. I was finding myself with the same patterns week in week out, of who I was spending time with, what I was doing and where I was going. Breaking out of routine has been especially difficult during the pandemic, as there are limits to how much we can throw caution to the wind and jet off on an adventure.

But I have found it is always worth it if I can break those routines in some way, whether that be choosing a different recipe for dinner, heading off for a walk somewhere nearby that I haven’t been to before, or even taking a different route on a well-trodden walk or car journey. Or, as I discovered last week, switching up where I do my shopping.