Friday, March 14, 2014

Is it Just Me or Do You Need Routines More as You Get Older?

TGIT - Thank God It's Thursday. I don't go into the office on Friday, so my TGI is with a T rather than a F. This Friday I woke up pretty early, brushed my teeth, made some hot water and got dressed like any other day. Why? Only one year ago I would have been up and gone from the house. Off to see friends, work out, run errands or any other number of things. When did I suddenly get a work day routine?

I understand that most people like routines and I have an extreme example sleeping next to me each night. Mike loves to get up each morning and follow the same routine. So much so, that if I get up early and disrupt any part of it he turns churlish very quickly. I have always mocked his lack of flexibility. Ha! I would think as he snapped at me for being in the bathroom when he wants to brush his teeth, I am so far superior in my flexibility skills! But actually I may just a routine late bloomer.

Yesterday I slept late. I woke up and had to cut the "routine" short. Quick shower, throw on clothes, grab food and drink, dash out door. All day at work I felt muddled, cranky and quite frankly, churlish. Is this because I didn't have my normal morning routine?!?

I am not the runner that must run, I am not the traveler that must have an exact schedule, I am not the person that gets churlish in the morning. What exactly does the onset of the "grumpy old man" syndrome look like? The more I think about it I may have just discovered the early symptoms of the disease!! I remember interrupting adult routines from my teen years to my twenties. They never seemed to appreciate it. My reaction was, "I will not be grumpy like that old person!" Amazing what truths arrive as you age. I didn't feel like myself all day yesterday. So why wouldn't I feel grumpy about not feeling normal?

What will this realization bring to my life? Can I reverse the signs of being a routine person? I've always lived by a creed of going with the flow, but what happens when my new "routine" interrupts the flow? Even further down the rabbit hole, did I have a routine of not following a routine all along? Morning musings are over and I'm off to swim and hopefully stave off being a routined person as long as I can.