On Routines

I like to be organized. Whenever I have an idea for a task, I have a trusted place where I can put that so I won’t forget it. Whenever I feel frustrated or angry or sad and need to expel some energy, I know that I will workout later in the day, giving me that outlet to satisfy those emotions. My wallet always goes in my left side back pocket, my pocket notebook goes in my right side back pocket, my phone goes in my left front pocket, and my pen and keys go in my right front pocket. Before I leave my house, I grab my keys from the same place I always put them, I grab my phone from the same place I put it, and if I need a sweater, I grab that from the same place I always put them. Whenever I come home, I take off my shoes and put them underneath my bed, I toss my keys on the surface beside my bed, and I charge my phone on my newly acquired dock, placed on the same surface I’ve always use to place my phone. I have many more of these habits and ways I like to do things, but these are just a few.

Some people may think I have ADD; I just like to think things through once and never have to think about it again. I don’t want to spend precious time looking for my keys because I didn’t have a designated place for them in my home. I don’t want to keep a dozen tasks in my head because I don’t have a trusted system to put them in so I can free up my mind to think about other things. I don’t want to leave my house without a charged phone or without my keys, something that has happened before. I keep a notebook and pen with me because I don’t want to enter a situation where not having these tools negatively affects me in some way.

My life is built on routines. That’s the only way I know how to better myself. At the moment, this is my current routine: I write and meditate every morning, on weekdays I go to work, on weekends I don’t, after work, I workout and then I read, and after that I do some todo list maintenance, and finish my night writing an entry on this blog. This is my daily routine and this is the exact order these things occur in my day. They’re not always done at the exact same hour every day, but they’re pretty close. I use time to gauge how much time and effort I need to accomplish these tasks at a reasonable time. There’s so much more I could do, and there are gaps in my days where I could efficiently add a new habit into but I haven’t yet.

My days seem busy but my progress looks slow. I won’t be done with my novel until well into next year, maybe later. I look a bit stronger, but I’m definitely not where I want to be. I still have so many more books to read and so many more blog entries to write. Sixty-one entries is nowhere near three hundred and sixty-five. And my home is nowhere near where I want it to be. That excitement I had before my purchases arrived in the mail and up till the first few days with these possessions has waned. These products are now a part of my life, and since they fit me and my lifestyle very seamlessly, they’ve disappeared into the background of my life. That’s amazing, actually. That was the whole point when I bought them, and I’m happy to see it play out that way.

Nobody reads my blog anymore, but I don’t care that much. I have big plans for this place, but they won’t come into fruition for a long time. All I know is that I have to keep moving forward, little by little, every day until all these little pieces add up to something amazing. And I can’t wait until that day. In the meantime, I’m going to keep focusing on my life and how I can live it as best as I can.