“My life is boring. I have exact schedule and I do the same things over and over again.” – just me.
There are times in my life where I have unscheduled days and unplanned activities. I ate whenever I wanted, slept whenever I felt like it, and did whatever my mind and heart told me. The only fixed schedule was going to school from 7am to 1.30pm. I thought spontaneous brings excitement. Yet – I did not feel content.
There are also times in my life where my life was extremely structured. I woke up at the same time, I ate at the same hour, even ate similar food types every day. It was dead boring but I felt everything was fine and I achieved a great outcome at school.
Having experienced two different ways of living, I figured having routines are not a bad thing. If any, it’s something that keeps me sane. People may call me boring but I realise it does not matter. I found out that I’m happier when I have my routines.
I also realise that having a routines, even the boring ones, would not mean that you feel bored.
I have a strict routines whenever I do my training warm-up. I also have a ritual in my head whenever I lift. I will take a deep breath and visualise the lift. Then I will stand by the bar, setup my feet position, hold the bar, say some cues to myself, then I’ll lift.
Am I bored doing it? No. It’s actually how I concentrate and improve my movement.
I also have daily morning routines: get up, drink water, toilet, wash my face, brush my teeth. I do it autonomously by now and it helps me secure my brain for something more important than those morning routine. More important, that makes me have a regular toilet schedule.
Back on the day, when I had a meal routine, I did not have any issue with weight gain or binge eating. That routine became my life style. I did not need to do any calorie tracking but my weight was stable. I lost it during high school. It was back when I was working in Indonesia and I lost this routing when I moved to Europe. And these days, I’m trying to build my meal routines.
Routines helps me feels as if I’m in control of my life. It might be an illusion but isn’t everything in life is an illusion of perception?
When I was younger, I thought, being spontaneous would make me a fun person. I have never wanted to acknowledge myself as someone who like routines. However, these days, if someone comes to me and ask what I think about having a routine? I’d excitedly say, yes please!
SUFOM 