A couple of days ago, I was telling a friend of mine how much I miss my routine. It was disrupted in mid-December and between my Disney marathon, snow days and work, things haven’t returned to ‘normal’ yet. He started laughing that everybody keeps complaining about being stuck in their routine and bored. First of all, I’m not one of them. Second, I think there is a huge difference between having a routine and being bored & stuck.
At a risk of sounding like a dull person, I love my routine. I really enjoy knowing what time I need to be at work, having fixed commute and reliable schedule for the day. I also have a small kid and logistics of parenting are much easier when everything goes as usual. On a regular day, dealing with a kid is plenty of excitement if you ask me.
Having said that, routine doesn’t mean you have to lead a boring life. I mostly stick to the routine during my weekdays, so I can make it with my sanity relatively intact. Weekends, on the other hand, are a whole another story. You can ask my friends how hard it is to get me to commit to plans ahead of time and make them unchangeable (like buying movie tickets a few days before). It’s because I want to be free to do whatever I feel like at the time. After all, when suns pops out and it’s snowy day on the slopes, I will definitely take advantage:
What about nice summery day? Well, that’s biking time!
My birthday tends to fall on a long weekend, so I couldn’t just totally forget about it. It’s always great time for adventure! Last year, I decided to do a destination marathon in Vermont:
And for those who think I am just that adventurous: I am afraid of heights. I also have a life philosophy: allowing fear make decisions for you is not living; it’s just surviving. So obviously, I had to celebrate one of my birthdays climbing trees and zip lining:
Yes, I definitely bring my own brand of ‘crazy’ to life and I will have adventures, regardless of how much I love my Mon-Fri routine. I love road trips and spontaneous adventures.
Now a bit of routine in workouts 😉. One definitely needs to find a good balance there. Routine has one huge advantage: you make it automatic and you get your workouts done regularly. I strongly believe in building sports into my life in a way that is hard to avoid. Some of the best ways: run or bike at least part of your way to work. It’s hard to skip that! On the other hand, too much routine is not that great either. There is a good reason for me being a triathlete and throwing in there occasional random sports (ice skating anyone? make taekwondo sport of the season? plenty of exciting ideas…): if you only do one thing over and over and over again, it’s easy to get bored. Boredom definitely doesn’t encourage consistency in workouts. Maybe it’s better to establish set workout times and then switch which ones you do? Oh, and let’s keep in mind this: if you constantly do the same workout, your progress will stagnate. Funny enough, it makes me think of this quote: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. I guess that relates to progress in sports 😉
So: find your way to blend routine and reliability with your own brand of crazy and adventure! 😊