Routines

It was back to work for me on Wednesday after a break of nearly four weeks. The time flew by and the long, lazy summer days quickly disappeared. Thankfully my first two weeks back at work are short weeks. Great planning, huh?

I am amazed how I instantly slipped into The Routine this week: getting up (to an alarm!), feeding the cat, making lunch, shower/dressed and racing out the door before seeing the same people at the bus stop, the same driver who dropped me off at the same stop in town ... you get the picture. It was great to see my workmates and catch up on holiday happenings over coffee - which kicked off another routine. We went to our usual café for coffee at the usual time and didn't even have to give our orders; the barista knows what we all drink and remembered from last year! (Actually, that's kind of nice.)

My work routine settled after just a couple of hours and it didn't take long for the holiday feeling to slip away entirely. Surely this isn't what my year is going to look like, every single work day??

I love this quote by Paulo Coelho:

Now, that's not entirely true as routines are often necessary and even positive. Kids thrive on routines and they provide us with a sense of comfort. But apparently most people run through life on autopilot. That's probably a relief for some. I find it scary, even though I do it myself. Time slips away and the days become a blur when running on autopilot.

How about this instead?

I have a friend who is desperate to be socially spontaneous, so long as she has enough time to plan it first. Short notice "let's do coffee/lunch" messages are met with "Oh, I'd love to but I'd better not because [insert reason here] - but definitely next time". Maybe this is the year we get her out for a random mid-week coffee or drink after work?

I'm looking forward to more spontaneity and less autopilot this year. Let me just figure out how to do that before being sucked back into The Routine.