Anchors & Pears.

Some people like to do things every day to mix up their routine. They call it "refreshing," "revitalizing," "energizing"...

I call it terrifying.

Why would I want to interfere with a wonderful routine that I've crafted to aid me in the carrying-out of each day with clock-work rhythm?

Exhibit A:

I love to eat the same breakfast every weekday. Every single weekday.
I begin by walking directly from bed to the stove to get the eggs boiling. And to pour myself a cup of cold Brita water.
Then I go back to the washroom to, you know, relieve myself.
Then I go back to the kitchen to make coffee. To pour into my favourite cup eventually.
Then I put the bread in the toaster oven.
Then I put away the clean dishes from the night before.
Then I....

You're getting bored.
You see, while you're getting bored, I'm getting relaxed... ah, yes, this - this routine - is a terribly relaxing start to my day.

Imagine how a person who loves those little routines feels about the News I watch while I eat my favoured breakfast. I am calmed by my daily greeting of the same CBC anchors (now that I know which days to expect whom). Do you find you get attached to your news anchors at all? Fascinated by the job they perform each morning?

Yeah, me neither.

Anyways, routine. Love it, thrive on it, appreciate it.


Another self-observation (since today's post is, as usual, all about me).
Exhibit B:

These are the stairs I climb to my tutoring-that's-not-tutoring-but-more-like-teaching job twice a week. Every time I'm walking up those stairs I feel like I don't really want to be going to work right now. I'd rather be outside, or at home, or.... who really knows where. I've just sort of got into this routine of thinking that I'd rather be somewhere else.

Once I get to the top of those stairs and turn right, I always tell myself all the way down that hallway, "Be thankful, Deb; be thankful, Deb..."
And then I walk in.
And then I'm totally fine.

And without fail, when I'm walking back down those same stairs a couple hours later, I'm always thinking how that went by so fast and how I genuinely enjoyed it.

I suppose you could call that my thinking routine.


This next and final exhibit is an aspect of my routine that I would like to change.
Exhibit C:

Do any of you have one of these? That cupboard that you open with your eyes closed while you cringe and try to think happy thoughts about something else because you feel guilty about the disorganization hiding behind the doors?

This is clearly one of those cupboards. Every time I need to find a spice in one of those dreadful yellow (although inexpensive!) bags, it's always on the bottom of the pile. Always. And so I go through these 2 minutes of self-loathing while I get what I need and try to avoid planning for the day where I will take the time to figure out a system for that thing. That horrid, looming thing.

So. Somewhere in my routine I need to build in the "one-times." Those times where you step out-of-system in order to fix or prepare something that will help you to operate more smoothly and efficiently in-system.


By the way, while I'm on the topic of guilt, I suppose I should confess that I only put the pear in my breakfast picture to make it look like I start my day off with a piece of fruit.

I don't.