Routine Day

333 Marbles

I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.

Roald Dahl

    My father grew up on his family’s dairy farm in the Prairies.  When he was young, he was given a journal/diary.  Excited, he started out by chronicling his experiences – “Today I got up at five a.m., milked the cows, and delivered the milk.  Then I went to school.”  The second day read similarly.  The third day was remarkably the same.  By the fourth day, he took to writing the date then scribbling “Routine Day.”  Those two words seemed to say it all for the young boy who grew up on a farm, craving adventure.  As a young man, his perception of the monotony of routine drew him to a career in the blossoming airline business, traveling the world. 
    Since Ex-man’s move out, I’ve pondered what it means to have a "Routine Day," as many of my routines were those of a couple.  I’ve had more time to analyze what is really important to me and how I want my routine days to be like. One change that has improved my quality of life is to take more relaxing baths than showers ;) ;).  The other change is that I now grocery shop at one of my local markets instead of the mega grocery store where I used to shop.  Sure, the prices may not be quite as good in some areas, but I’m lucky that the city where I live has so many affordable options to the grocery megastores.  I’ve switched to organic milk and eggs because it makes me feel good and, ironically, they are closer to the natural products that my father would have delivered almost seventy years ago.  And I’ve taken to buying a high fat yogurt that I eat as a treat along with fruit.  Small changes that make a routine day feel more like my routine day. Yet, even as I establish new patterns that are more aligned with my own proclivities, I am also mindful of what my father's intrepid spirit instilled in me and what Amos Bronson Alcott so succinctly wrote, "The less routine, the more life."

Consider your routines.  Are there things that you hate doing that you could replace with a more agreeable alternatives?  Are there little adjustments in time management that could open up the space for more life?