Routine
I LOVE routine. I’m very much a creature of habit. I’m not impulsive, even though I pretend I am sometimes. I like to have a set structure for my day, and when I don’t, I feel lost and unproductive.
But here’s the bad thing about routine: it can feel like a rut. I started a job a little over a month ago, and I’ve been striving to find my best routine with it, having little success. The job part itself is easy: 9-5 M-F is a pretty easy schedule to follow. The problem is my off-time. I’ve fallen into a bad routine for my evenings and I have no idea what to do with myself on the weekends.
Every day I wake up and make a plan for my evenings. I’ll get home from work, workout, make dinner, then get to work on my business until bedtime. Yet, everyday, I come home, I eat junk food (because I think I’m starving but its really just out of habit), then I make dinner cause I’ll feel guilty if I don’t try to eat something healthy, then I get lost on electronics. Tonight, it’s this blog post; most nights, it’s social media on my phone. Before I know it, it’s time for bed, and I’ve accomplished nothing. I’ve accidently created a routine that isn’t good for me.
I’m working on improving my routine. I’ve been in this process since I started this job. There are so many new learning curves, most of which are about how I best want to get my own shit done, at work and on my own time. I’ve been making tweaks to my grocery shopping and meal prepping. I’ve also been trying to readjust my sleep schedule to wake up earlier. And now I’m trying to add in exercise, as soon as I get home from work so that I don’t immediately go to the couch and start zoning out.
My routine is a work in progress, and I’m sure it will be for a while yet, if not a never-ending challenge. I’m glad I’m feeling more settled and comfortable in my new job, and I’ve got a good routine established for my day there. And I’m glad I can recognize what’s not working for me now so that I can make the effort to change it. I’m also very good about having self-compassion for the days that nothing goes right, and I end up back in my old, bad habits... because maybe today didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, but tomorrow is another opportunity to try to get it right.
