Do you struggle with routine? During a time of silence and deep self- reflection, I was inspired to ask myself, what is it about me that I struggle with routine. I realize there is going to be a certain amount of routine in my life out of necessity. However, too much routine just does not work for me.
My history paints a picture of someone who is a bit rebellious against routine. The biggest place I notice it is in my career. In the past, I have changed jobs or positions approximately every year.
I guess it’s a good thing that I am a nurse and can change jobs a little easier than perhaps someone whose not in the medical profession. When I get burned out with the routine, I’m gone. It seems I get bored rather quickly with routine. Stepping out of the routine creates a different perception for me. It also allows me to use my creativity to a much deeper level.
I have colleagues who have been on the same job for over 25 years. Quite frankly, I would die. Seeing the same people, and performing many of the same routine functions of the job. For over 25 years. Every day. Oh my. Where is the growth? Staying put implies stagnation. Is it perhaps fear of leaving one’s comfort zone?
There’s a huge world out there. Explore it.
For me, a huge part of the whole routine thing is that feeling of stagnation after a length of time. I have found that being in a different environment and around different people has equated to growth and development for me.
So you wake up, grab a cup of coffee, take a shower, get dressed, and out the door you go to work. Then you work all day performing many of the same routine functions. At the end of the day you clock out and go home. Once you are home, you get something to eat, shower, and prepare for the next day. Wow. What a life. Talk about being in a rut.
How can I make my day less routine?
- Take a different route to work or home and notice the scenery around you.
- Eat lunch outside on a pretty day instead of eating where you always eat.
- Make it a point to get to know another person within the organization.
- Perhaps transfer to a different department within the same organization to expose the brain to something new.
- Start your day with gratitude
- Switch your morning routine up by starting with exercise at least 3 days out of the 5
We have the ability to break the routine up but many of us choose not to. We get in a robotic frame of mind and just operate without thought. I am actually a person who chooses to break the routine up. It makes life more exciting for me. It gives me a feeling of broadening my Horizons and helps transform my view of the world.
But then I also had to ask myself, “Could my difficulty with routine mean I am unstable?” For me I think not. I have proven my stability through my ability. Ability to maintain an 18- year relationship, ability to fulfill my passions, ability to maintain great friendships and the ability to deal with the ebb and flow of life.
In reflecting back on my 18-year relationship, it became very mundane and routine. We would both go to work, come home, prepare dinner, watch T.V., go to bed and do it all the same way the next day. Day after day. In hindsight, there are so many things we could’ve done to switch it up and keep it alive and interesting. I think we fell into the routine and mundane lifestyle without even being aware of it until one day we both realized just how bored and lonely we felt.
I encourage you to change the routine up. Change is the only way we grow. Maybe take a class, volunteer somewhere different, learn a new skill, change positions, visit a different place of worship, and/or take a walk somewhere completely different. There are so many ways to switch it up. Give it a try. It will contribute to your overall growth in a positive way and add more fun and excitement to your relationships.
Switch the routine up at home, in your relationships, in your personal life, and in your professional life. Choose to live a life of excitement. Choose to experience as much of life as you can. Choose growth by choosing change.
Vince
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Vince is a Critical Care Registered Nurse, Published Writer, and Columnist living and loving in Atlanta, Georgia. Enter your email address to receive his weekly educational, inspirational, and thought-provoking work straight to your inbox. You can also follow him on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Your support and feedback are deeply appreciated.
Thank you, I needed that
Thank you
Sorry for the delay in commenting, Vince.
Routine is good to a certain effect, however a break from routine is also needed to make life interesting and break away from the mundane way of life.
Recently I saw this quotation, “When you replace ‘why is this happening to me ?’ with ‘what is this trying to teach me ?’ everything shifts.”
That makes a lot of sense to my little brain. If you live a mundane 9-5 regular life with no outside interests then you have to reap the repercussions of possibly become a boring old man with absolutely no charisma. However, if you turn it on it’s head and ask and ask the question, then you can see that going out after work, seeing fiends, a movie, a show, even just driving or walking or gardening or anything teaches to your knowledge and self worth and that you can hold a decent general conversation with friends, family or even strangers that you just met in a bar.
I then realised that I know many people, some going back to my childhood, that actually can not hold down a proper conversation. Their only subjects seem to be ‘where are you going on holiday ?’ or ‘is he having and affair with her ?’ or ‘you’ve lost weight’ or ‘you’ve put on weight. You know, if they these people, as nice as they may be, just disappeared from the face of the earth, then no one, apart from their immediate family, would probably even notice that they’d gone.
You touch people’s lives with your job, they don’t. You care about your friends, they don’t. You make the effort ar a social event to mix and mingle. they just stand there like living statues.
As stated before, routine is important but you also must bring in impulse and change (no one likes change) to make interesting and not mundane. Never forget ‘variety is the spice of life’.
Thank you for another interesting blog.
I look forward to the next episode of the VSC.
Yuri,
As always, a very thoughtful response. I am grateful for you.
Vince
I really enjoyed this article. I’ve been accused of being too free spirited, fickle, flakey etc in the past because of my ability to make and accept change easier than most. What I realized about myself is that I’m a minimalist and I don’t hold onto to things. And I give my heart and soul to people but sometimes you’ve got to be willing to let go of people as well. And that’s not instability, it’s a form of love. Self love and loving someone else enough to set them free.
Florinda,
I love that you point out “letting go is not a form of instability but instead a form of love.” Thank you so much for your response. Your support and feedback mean a lot.
Blessings,
Vince