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.

What is Back on Track?

This morning I wasn't feeling that well, so I stayed home, slept in and thought about how out of whack I've been of late. I haven't been taking very good care of very much... very consistently lately. Not feeling well, not eating well, not training like I'm used to.  My life scale has not been balanced of late. (And speaking of my scale, I'm not impressed with what it had to say to me this morning!) I do excellent at working out and eating right and work takes a hit, or I'm doing well with work but my personal relationships begin to decline. This morning I began the day thinking, "I need to get back on track." I'm going to take better care of myself, get back to training, eating right, really concentrate on progressing at the office again and do a better job at calling friends and family. I can do it!!

I picked up a bit around the house and started planning for the long list of items from my self-pep talk earlier. It sounded overwhelming and not feeling well already it sent me directly to the sofa to sink into the oblivion of the Real Housewives of where-ever. After a few shows I knew I needed to get up and get ready to go into the office. I had a conference call that I didn't want to miss and I didn't want to get any further behind, but I thought some meditation might put me in the right mind-frame to survive the day. Hey, even if I'm sucking at life at least I can be cheery about it right? Thirty minutes later I sat not thinking about how I was going to go conquer the world, but instead contemplating whether my feelings of being behind are because I'm on a different track than I thought I was. Maybe I'm not really "off track" maybe instead I veered onto a different course and I was so busy looking at the directions for my last course of action that I didn't even notice that my route has changed.  

So am I back on track? I'm certainly not, but maybe I'm not quite as lost as I thought.

How Many "I'm Back" Blogs Can One Person Write?

As you may be able to tell by this blog in general, I'm not particularly good at writing consistently.  Although I always have the best of intentions, I just fail sometimes.  I cannot find a copy of her speech now, but I remember Maya Angelou saying something at my graduation from MSU like, "I often fail at what I set out to do, but when I get up the next day I try to do just a little bit better than I did the day before."  I probably slaughtered what she actually said, but it has always stuck in my head in that manner.  So, I was never a diary writer and all my plans of keeping records for numerous personal things have never lasted more than a few days or weeks.  I'm always trying new things though and I thought of a new strategy for blogging today... so I shall try and do a little bit better in blogging than I have in the past.  I'm trying it out anyways, we shall see where it goes.  My blog beginning now will be about no one thing.  It will be straight up, willy nilly musings by yours truly.  Blogs could vary from race reports to my latest food or fashion obsession.  I just can't be pinned down to one thing, I'm much too rambunctious for that.

Today will be on my polka dot skirt.  Yup, you read it right.  My sister and I started going to estate sales a little over a year ago.  This made my occasional thrift store habit of buying clothes from other eras kick into high gear.  I have been snapping up "vintage" clothing like a mad woman ever since.  PS. To anyone wavering over the use of vintage in today's society, I already agree with your sentiments.  But, it does sound nicer than pre-worn or used clothes, so I shall use it.  

After I spent $30 (higher price than I would usually pay) on a stunning 1960-1970 dress the other day, I told Mike that I am, "Procuring a very stellar historical wardrobe and one day someone will appreciate it as much as I do."  I was doubly happy to be able to wear a vintage slip as well today.  It's very long and most of my dresses and skirts won't work with it.  Speaking of slips...  WARNING RANT BEGINNING: I think that the undergarment has been maligned by current fashion and I personally revel in old slips when I can find them.  I refuse to squeeze into those spanx-y things the current society think suffice for slips.  I wear skirts and dresses so that I'm not restricted by pants.  The last thing I'm going to do is put a restricting set of spandex pants on underneath a skirt!  This officially ends the rant portion for of the blog for today.  

I picked up this number at a sale in west Lansing a few months ago.  It was much too cold to wear until recently and I wasn't all that sure how I was going to make it work for the office.  I think I figured it out today.  So, how about a pic of my pretty polka dot skirt and slip?

I got several compliments on it today.  It's very summery!

Team Priority Health Blogging

Well, I got a bit behind because I was having some technical difficulties with the blog, but I'm on the mend now and trying to catch up.  Here's the latest and there will be a handful more soon.

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/08/petrodactyl-tri-july-18/

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/08/pr-its-a-race-thing-you-wouldnt-understand/

Busy, Busy

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/07/busy-busy/

New Blog Posts

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/07/opposites-attract/

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/07/racing-a-bit/

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/07/why-arent-we-nice-to-ourselves/

A Dirty Feat Indeed

http://www.teampriorityhealth.com/2012/06/a-dirty-feat-indeed/