The funny thing about routine is that both too much and not enough are not good.
With my recent change in work situation my regular life weekday routine has been trashed and I am feeling kind of out to sea. It is both disconcerting and liberating. It is an opportunity to re-think the routines I'd established, shake things up, do things differently and hopefully better, but it has also left me feeling terribly inefficient and unmotivated.
I've had a thing for quotes lately and I recently found these two quotes:
"Most of life is routine - dull and grubby, but routine is the momentum that keeps a man going. If you wait for inspiration you'll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street." Ben Nicholas
and
"As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge." Henry Van Dyke
The thing is, I think they're both right. The key is to find the balance and that is what is missing in my life right now. The holiday season always throws routine a loop anyway, but this year is extreme and I am having trouble feeling festive. Zoe is counting down the days until Christmas and I'm not even sure what day it is half the time. Everything seems so much harder because I have to think about it so much more. I know 6 months down the road things will look different, but that just looks like a long road right now.
3 comments:
Those adjustments are so hard. You lose bits of time you were used to and find others, but it takes you a while to recognise them. And nothing goes quite smoothly at first, which leaves you all discombobulated. It is quite anxiety inducing. However, I expect that a couple of weeks of being steadily at home will make it feel more normal (once the holidays are out of the way, and 'Bah' to them anyway).
Routine is tough to build and tough to let go. The lack of routine during my maternity leave left me cleaning things I hadn't touched in a long time. But I soooooooo hear you about not knowing what day of the week it was. I live by my day planner so while I was home I decided to pull it out and write a list of tasks in it - change sheets, buy diapers, buy gift for so-and-so and that gave me a little of the routine I needed. This was a great post.
I'm sorry things are so out of balance right now! I can see that with things at work as crazy as they are, it would be hard to get your bearings. I hope you settle into a new routine and feel better much sooner than you expect.
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