Mar 12, 2007

On Routine

Routine can be, well, monotonous, but it can also be very comforting. Today was the first day back at school after spring break, and I quickly settled into my normal Monday-morning progression.
Wake up, leave the quad, go to the cafe and order my usual mocha with an extra shot of espresso. Today I tried an Odwalla bar (which I've never had before), but that, too, is part of the routine - I typically switch around what I eat.
While routine can be nice, it also brings forward, sometimes painfully, the repetitiveness of everyday life. This routine happens nearly every Monday, but also Wednesdays and Fridays, for weeks and weeks, only broken by events like spring break or a cancelled class (or oversleeping, for that matter). Is that bad? Not necessarily, but in the end, you really have to find something that changes to keep you going. Doing the same things for days and days on end tends not to have a purpose unless you're reaching some finish line, or achieving some goal. End of the semester? Perhaps. Graduating from college? Maybe.
But I like to find smaller things, more specific and detailed aspects of my life that I can progress in. Today I'm going to take notes on my laptop in Sociology (every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, right after Computer Science), and I'm going to make them detailed and easy to study from. Today I'm going to finish my computer model in 3D Modeling (Mondays and Wednesdays).
Sometimes it feels like life is made up of the same patterns, over and over and over and over again. But when you look closer, or perhaps when you take a step back and take in the big picture, things change over time, and that's what routine is for - it helps us digest and accommodate the change in a way that improves our lives.