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Going in Circles

So, there is a common idiom in English about going around in circles. It means roughly that you're not really accomplishing anything because you end up at the same spot you started (that's what happens when you traverse a circle). It's a simple enough notion, and the saying rarely needs explaining. It just sort of makes sense.

Well, let me tell you, I have reason to disagree.

In my case, I don't mean the sort of hypothetical running around in circles, I mean the literal kind. I have literally gone around in circles and found value in the exercise. It's also worth noting that the act wasn't a way of getting exercise, either. No one would dispute that running laps around a track has its own value (even if you're the type who finds that kind of exercise boring, you can understand the logic behind it). However, in my case, it wasn't a way to get exercise. I have different, more amusing, reasons.

In the first case, I was sitting around at home, and I started to feel a bit antsy. I don't quite know what came over me, but I just felt the need to move around or burn off some energy. I actually did a few push ups first, but I still wanted to just move around. So, I got up and started pacing a bit. Now, me walking back and forth around the house is nothing new. In those cases, though, it was more to multitask while I was otherwise occupied. In this case, the pacing was the primary activity.

As it turned out, it did the trick. I started to get into a bit of a rhythm, and I just ... kept walking. Now, the apartment is only so big, so it's impossible for me to walk very far in a straight line. At some point, you run out of real estate. So, I turned around and walked back. By this point, tracing actual, literal circles through the apartment seemed like a good idea. I didn't track exactly how long I did this, but it was long enough for me to laugh at myself. I'm positive I walked at least a couple of thousand steps that way.

The second, and more amusing, case of this involved a baby. I was at my parents' place during the day, so I got to see some of the babies. There were a couple of them there that I hadn't seen very much of before, so I was playing with them a bit to get them to feel comfortable around me. One particular baby wasn't actually mobile, so I couldn't exactly play tag with him. He did, however, keep an eye on me as we were playing. So, I started to move around laterally to get him to follow along with his eyes.

Once I saw he was doing that, a light bulb went on: what if I moved around him? One way to find out, right? So, I started going in circles around him. Sure enough, he realized what was happening, and he kept snapping his head in the other direction once I got far enough behind him that his peripheral vision couldn't keep up. Again, I was literally running around in circles. And both the baby and I were laughing about the whole thing. Eventually he got tired of the game, but I still count that as a victory. Running in circles for the win.

I don't exactly cherish accomplishing nothing, but I think I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with the dictionary. Going around in circles can be quite fruitful.

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