Carl jolted awake with a start. It was raining again. It seemed to rain every day, every day at the same time even. He chalked it up to the curse of the routine. In Carl’s mind, the curse of the routine was something that at first he resented but now has come to live with. Everyday was the same. Carl would see the same people pass him by. The same music would play. The same smells, the same sounds. His neighbors would come and go, seemingly picked off and back into the world at random. But the curse of the routine spun on and he was always left the same.

One day, just when everything was going the same, something went different. Carl felt a strange presence. He couldn’t place it. He was at home like every other day. Carl looked at the groceries sitting next to him, just some fruit. Same things as always. For whatever reason that fateful day, something clicked and Carl left.

He wasn’t even sure if he decided to, it just happened. It happened so quick he didn’t even think. He passed a couple of his neighbors. They seemed happy for him. All of the sudden, Carl was invigorated with new life. The curse of the routine was broken by the prospect of travel. For the first time he could smell fresh air. It was so much better than the dank, humid air back at home. Carl felt alive.

Carl saw the world. All of its colors whizzing by, all the shapes and sounds. He had never experienced something so adventurous in his life. He always thought he had great vision, but the world around him would not stop dazzling him. Carl wished he would’ve left weeks ago. He thought to himself how his neighbors back home were missing out on the vivid world around them. Carl had the beautiful realization that though home is safe, charming, and comforting, maybe it was a good thing to change his scenery. New air, new people, it felt like a new life.

Perhaps this is what life is about, he thought. Whenever the curse of routine struck, the remedy was a change in scenery. He realized that travel magnifies our emotions. Out with the stale, in with the fresh. Fresh is good. And right now, Carl was as fresh as ever. He had courage, he was giddy with anticipation, Carl had finally found his purpose.

Then he was eaten by a horse because Carl is a carrot.