For about the past month or so now, I’ve been able to settle into a pretty good routine. That is for about 90% of the time. Then routines don’t work, but it’s not the end of the world.
Lately my mornings involve getting up a bit earlier than the rest of the family so I can get some “God time” in [as I call it to the kids], followed by some reading or blogging and some coding on my prayer journal project. Twice a week now I’m swapping the reading/coding for running. It’s fabulous to get into that groove again.
Sometimes the routine gets broken. The kids get up a little earlier than planned. Some chores need attending to. Appropriately enough, I intended to run this morning, but my body is still a bit sore and the spring pollen is starting to trigger some allergies and a headache, not conducive to running.
The important point is not to let the break in the routine ruin your day. Things happen. Life is messy. It is important to be flexible and pliable enough in your life to adapt and move on. I used to be [and admittedly so still am to some degree] rather “firm” on schedules/routines. If something came up to alter that, I would grit my teeth, take the pressure, and move on. No matter how firm or “rock solid” you can be, life is bigger and will chip away at your if you keep this attitude too long. Eventually you will crumble away.
Instead, be flexible with your schedules/routines, like a rubber ball. When the pressure comes, you’ll be squeezed, but you’ll spread and flatten out. You’ll make do with the space you have, but more importantly, you won’t crumble. When the pressure is removed, when life goes back to normal [whatever THAT is 8^D] you’ll go back to the shape you were in, and continue on. Today I didn’t run, but I blogged instead. Previous iterations of me would be rather upset at this, grumbling along the way. Today I see it as just an alteration, a bit of pressure. I squeezed and made room. I blogged this morning! Tomorrow I’ll run. The day after I’ll go back to normal, unless something else comes up.