How to Develop a Sense of Direction

Tuesday, July 2

Day 2, Tuesday: Educate us on something you know alot about or are good at. Take any approach you'd like (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)


I almost skipped today's post - not because I forgot, or got lazy even. I'm completely convinced that I'm not good at anything interesting enough to blog about.

Then I remembered something that I'm super skilled at. I'm talking might-be-my-superpower good. My spidey senses start tingling just thinking about it, and it just might be my sixth sense: direction. Seriously. In high school, I went on a student trip abroad (as mentioned in yesterday's post), and this included lots of walking around from one place to the next. By the end of the trip, some chaperones were looking to me for turn by turn instructions to our destinations.


I'm including a couple pictures from last year's trip to San Francisco, since that was the last time I've been completely out of my element and needed to tap into said superpowers. All anyone really needs to get where they're going is a map.

Drop the GPS.

Alright, here's my get good with directions simple tutorial.

1. Get a map.
Make sure the street names are clearly visible, and the ones with a few landmarks listed are even better. Some people just aren't good with names; I get it. So having a map that shows a post office at the corner of Main Street & Central Avenue can really make a difference.

2. Be observant.
When I first moved to Atlanta, I got turned around as easy as a group of tipsy line dancers at a summer wedding. We've got countless one-way streets, and their names are often too similar to differentiate. Sometimes, the only way we'd make it back home was to look for a familiar building along the skyline and remember where we stayed in relation to it. Take note of every house, sign, pillar and restaurant along the way, because the ability to use it as a point of reference may come in handy.

3. Pay attention to the sun.
This is another tidbit they teach us in grade school: in our hemisphere, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. That big bright burning star in the sky is always my guide, so long as I'm moving around during the day. Just find a northern or southern landmark, pop out that map, pinpoint your current location and you're good to go anywhere (so long as it's listed on that map, of course.).

*Bonus: trust your gut.
If you've been walking, riding or driving for a while, and it feels like you're going the wrong way, you probably are. Take a pause, turn around and look for some familiarity. Getting lost can be fun sometimes, but wasting time is just plain annoying.

Alright now get out there!

♥