8.12.2009

My Sense of Direction

Some confessions:

I drive my mom crazy by asking her for directions to places in Spokane that I've been 100 times.

I sometimes get lost coming out of the bathroom at restaurants and malls.

I have trouble giving people directions to places because I tend to just drive around until I find a destination.

Yes, I have a terrible sense of direction. Or perhaps just a lack of one. Anyway, I kind of cracked myself up this week with another classic example of my directional confusion. See, I had the simple task of walking from my office at Seattle University to Safeco Field. For most people, their mind would direct them to a route that looks something like this:




It's about a 1.8 mile route, and pretty direct.

Here's how my brain works (these are direct thought quotes): "Hmmm, I know how to get from my office to downtown, and I know how to get from downtown to Safeco. So, I guess that's the best way to go!"

So, my actual route looked like this:




I walked about 3. 5 miles. When I told the group that I had passed Pike Place Market on my way to the game, they all said: "What were you doing there? That doesn't make any sense!"

At the time, it made perfect sense to my directional-deprived brain! The Dixie Chicks have a song with the lyrics: "I've always found my way somehow, taking the long way around." That's me - both literally and figuratively!

3 comments:

  1. I recently heard on the radio a guy that is researching how we find our way. He talked of the difference between the maps we have in our minds and the actual geography. He said that females are much more likely to find their way by using landmarks, rather than a mental "aerial view" (more common in males), but even those mental aerial views are usually inaccurate.... Sooo, you were just doing what comes naturally!

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  2. I need to work on developing a mental aerial map - or maybe just start carrying an actual map!

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