I remember back in college when the alumni would come back to school to visit, we would always them what work is like. And they would often respond with “I miss college!” or “It’s so tiring.” Digging deeper into these answers, I found out that work was a series of daily routines. I assumed that they missed college because although studying was tiring, every day was different. Different classes, different lessons, different people. There was a certain uncertainty and spontaneity to college life whereas work, especially in an office, is almost always the same everyday.
Because of this, I promised myself that I would avoid routines at all cost. The way I saw it, routines were traps. The moment we begin following a daily routine, we lose touch with ourselves because we allow habits to take full control over our actions. We sacrifice intent over muscle memory. The time we wake up, the food we eat, the route we take to work or school, the people we talk to, it’s all set and all we have to do is let things take their usual course.
That’s what I used to think. I know, it’s silly. For a while now, there’s been huge debate going on in my head because while my past self has always been pro mindfulness and intent in all actions, my present self is leaning towards routine. But I now realize, I’ve been missing the point this entire time.
Routine isn’t a trap, it’s a roadmap. And we have a choice whether to realign the map to how we want our days to unfold or leave it as it is. If we end up dissatisfied with how our lives turn out, that’s on us. We chose it.
I’ve been listening, watching, and reading a lot of Jordan Peterson lately. First heard of him through podcast interviews with Joe Rogan and Tim Ferriss and now I’m reading his latest book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. He talks a lot about getting our lives together, which I think many people in our generation, myself included, might need a heavy dose of. He says that there is order and there is chaos and we need to find a way to weave our lives across both, not one without the other. So I’m contemplating this and I’ve now reached the conclusion that this whole no-routine-only-spontaneity thing is misplaced. It’s a recipe for anxiety and inconsistency. There’s a way to live spontaneously without having to lose all forms of planning, and I think it’s by choosing the routines we follow, and living them out mindfully.