ND, Let's Walk On The Wild Side And Try Shopping Clockwise.

Shopping is the worst.

So why then am I the primary shopper in my little family? Because as much as I dislike it, I'm ridiculously fast and efficient at it. Why? Because I seriously don't like shopping. The store's exit doors are like a finish line I'm racing to the minute I enter the place.

I was a big fan of social distancing in the store.

If I'm eyeballing the asparagus, I don't need you looking over my shoulder. Everyone staying six feet away was fine by me. One of the goofy features of the peak of the pandemic was the arrows on the floor of some grocery store aisles. If you were going the wrong way people looked at you like you just kicked a puppy. Strange times.

Back to my point about the evils of having to shop.

Once I make it to the checkout (2 out of 20 are open), the pleasant cashier asks me if I found everything. Like I would ever go back into the store to get something. I'm at the checkout, I can see the exit and I want to leave. It's not a healthy attitude. So to try and calm my shopping anxiety I will occasionally do my shopping trip clockwise!

Yup, that's right clockwise.

Now, clockwise shopping is more common at the big box retail stores because they often have multiple entrances and you pretty much start shopping wherever you stroll in. But here's the way the herd moves in most grocery stores. You enter the store, grab a cart, and move to the right. It's your regular store where you buy your regular things. You know where everything is so we all just kind of go through the motions. By the time I've been through the store and am passing the frozen food sections, I have lost all will to continue.

So about every five trips I mix it up for my sanity.

I grab my cart and sneak over to the frozen food section and start shopping clockwise. It's like I'm seeing the aisles for the first time! What was once to my left is now to my right. The canned music even sounds better. The people don't seem to be blocking the aisles with their carts and the store always has the type of peanut butter I like.

So why don't I shop clockwise all the time?

Because I end up forgetting the grocery staples that I always just grab out of habit. Which means I need to go back to the store. But still, I double-dog dare you to shop in the opposite direction. Maybe it'll break up the monotony.