My Daily Routine: Energy Saver Or Waster?

What are you going to do today? What is your daily routine?

Well, the same thing I did yesterday, the same thing I’m going to do tomorrow. My routine. I get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, and either I catch the bus or I’m late for work. Maybe I’ll get there at the same time as my colleagues. I get rid of some papers from my desk and add some new ones. Then I take a coffee break and have a boring conversation about the last episode of the series that everyone is talking about.

I will work overtime to make some progress, and on Friday everyone will go out together. At home, of course, I want to watch a movie in bed right away, and want to think about opportunities for my life, which I do not have right now. This is my daily routine.

Maybe Raphaëlle Giordano is right and our second life begins when we finally realize we only have one. We only hear that the starting pistol is fired when we have gone through one of these experiences and have seen our whole life pass by in an instant.

It is a strange experience, even “magical” according to people who have lived through it. Why? Because it has the power to put our priorities in order. These types of experiences are also important for another reason: to remind us that our future is not guaranteed.

Vandeyr

Nothing shapes a person’s will or way of thinking more than routine. As a monk, we have our habits: frequent, constant and reliable. We carry our habits every day, so we are never naked and vulnerable for life.

Both habits and customs sound like routines. Things we do pretty much the same way all the time, and that make us feel safe. They make our doubts disappear. After all, they are tried and tested strategies for life’s problems.

In addition , we can save a large amount of energy by having a daily routine. It’s like installing software that does everything automatically; we do not have to think about it or plan it. We only have to do it once since we just perfected it. For example, say I used to take the bus to work, but one day that line was discontinued, and I found that the subway was faster, contrary to what I had thought.

Think about whether we had to think about these things every day: What should I have for breakfast? How should I go to work? When should I take a break? … These are questions we have already answered. So, why create a new problem? Why should I make a bigger effort than necessary if I already have my routine?

Is my daily routine useful, or is it a prison?

However, if our daily routine is too strict and we do not allow ourselves to take a break, there may come a time when it becomes overwhelming. You probably know the feeling.

What used to help now feels more like a prison cell where there is too little oxygen. We want to break out, we fantasize about doing so. But not doing what we do every day means climbing a steep slope – at least in the beginning; that means we have to leave our  comfort zone. It is as if we want it and do not want it at the same time. In the end, we will only choose the safe alternative: what we always do.

But what about the symptoms of “acute routine”? Lack of motivation, fatigue, a nostalgic state of mind, mood swings, apathy, disappointment… and the overwhelming feeling that we have everything – or almost everything – we need to be happy, and yet we are not.

We are talking about the vague, overwhelming feeling of emptiness that surprises us. The feeling that often comes out of the blue.  On the other hand, all the changes we imagine, things we have thought about over and over again, seem absurd to us. Why should we try to take the bus again if we already know that it takes longer? Why replace what we eat for breakfast if what we eat now feels good and gives us energy all morning?

Do not forget to dream!

It has to do with not having new goals to replace those we have already met. These new destinations are just the tip of the iceberg, they are just the beginning of a dream. So when they are missing, our dreams can also be missing.

Maybe my daily routine is not the worst in the world. Maybe you call it an in-country problem… or maybe not. Because the truth is that if it is combined with other problems, such as loneliness, it actually becomes one of the main reasons why people need therapy.

Routines: good or bad?

The best way to break routines and plans is improvisation and spontaneity : by doing new activities that we think we will enjoy, but also by sometimes doing things just because people recommend them to us. Maybe they will surprise us a little, and that surprise can be the key to our prison cell, the key to our happiness.

Therefore, we should also take a look at our personality, and make sure that we are always open to new experiences. It is an ideal trait to cultivate – at least occasionally – if we do not want to feed the routine every day and turn it into a monster.

Our daily routine saves us a lot of energy, but it can also be a big waste of time when we stop dominating it and instead be dominated by it. Sometimes we stop taking risks because we feel too safe; we have done the same thing over and over again too many times.