Routines. The Good. The Bad. The Wish We Had.
By Erica and Karen
When our lives were structured by work and children obligations, our schedules were largely determined by others. We had personal routines, of course, ranging from personal care to how we worked. But they weren’t front and center in affecting how we would spend our days.
Now things are different and routines play a larger role. We’re paying more attention to our regular routines, what we do, don’t do, wish we would do, as they seem to have a larger impact on our overall mental state than we would have thought. Here are some:
Exercise. Karen exercises every weekday early in the morning. She is religious about it. She and Erica both walk for at least a mile, and usually more, almost every day. But Erica’s other exercise, sadly, is less regular. Her goal is to do yoga stretches for half to a full hour a day. She manages that for several weeks and then, for no particular reason, takes a break. When she starts up again, she regrets taking the break. But then she does it again some weeks later.
Morning routines. If we don’t wake up early, take a shower, dress, eat breakfast in that order, we find we are slugs the rest of the day. So that’s our routine whether we are staying in or not. We both eat the same breakfast almost every day: blueberries, yogurt, granola, coffee (iced for Erica).
Clothes. Unless it is the rare day when we are not going out, we both routinely dress. We think about what we want to wear that day and create a look for ourselves that makes us feel we could go anywhere, meet anyone, and feel good about ourselves. We are often surprised that we can put on something and feel good one day, and put on the exact same thing another day and not feel right. Seems to depend on how we are feeling inside.
Makeup. Neither of us are makeup experts, but we use makeup anyway. We saw that most Lustre readers answered our poll saying that they wear makeup almost every day. So do we, though it’s often just the minimum: light foundation, mascara, blush. Taking more time with it, we know, makes us feel good. We should do that more.
The Office. We have written a lot about why we have an office, a place of our own to work, to talk, to host. We go there regularly. An old routine that hasn’t lost its lustre.
Food. We both love food. It’s always part of our routines—talking about it, planning for it, eating it. Karen has a more elaborate cooking routine than Erica, who goes out for dinner fairly regularly. (We note that Karen’s Jewish husband is more into food than Erica’s Irish one.) Erica cooks a lot during the summer months, when more friends and family are around. When Fall comes, she’s ready to go back to basics.
Having routines has imposed order on our days and we like that. But what we like even more is the time we have for the serendipitous. Empty space just waiting to be filled by something unexpectedly splendid.
