TOPIC: Is maintaining a rigid schedule and steady routine beneficial or simply neurotic?
Most of you, probably either shrugging at the topic of this post, indifferent to its merits, or totally believing people who chain themselves to a schedule are neurotic, making one of those scrunchy faces at the screen as if the screen can see you and has the ability to react to your expression, will continue reading because you want to know just how loony I really am; however, those rare few of you, nodding your head "yes" and smirking as if you are privy to a massive worldwide inside joke demonstrating your superiority to the rest of the human race, already choosing to live a certain way on a daily basis, will continue reading simply for validation.
I begin my argument with the old cliché about Mondays: Everyone hates Mondays. Right?
Mondays undoubtedly inspire the most dread compared to every other day of the week. For most people work starts again and the weekly grind commences. Then why do people who do not work a typical 9-5 job, also hate Mondays?
It is simple. Actually. Hating Mondays is Friday’s fault. Confused? Most of us hate Mondays because Friday comes along and tempts us to stay up later, which causes us to sleep in on Saturday, much later than we normally would for work during the week, and then Saturday, appearing harmless and warm, allows us to do the same thing. Then BAM! Monday rears its ugly head, forcing us to get up early, disrupting the new schedule we began on Friday. It is not until Wednesday we begin to feel better all around, getting into the rhythm of the week, but then Friday comes along again, whispering its sweet and deserving temptations once again…
(For people who do not work a typical 9-5 job, insert whatever day causes you the most anxiety for Monday in the above and below paragraphs)
And does not dreading Monday morning lead us to hate Sunday nights as well? We start to feel anxious about the upcoming morning, whether or not we will awake on time for work, how we will fall asleep so soon when it feels like we just go up; we start to remember our work issues, uncompleted tasks, new tasks to begin, just how tired we will feel dragging ourselves into the shower, downing three or four cups of coffee, and then speeding to work to make it on time if we do not find a way to fall asleep this second…Enough!
Anxiety is one of the most dangerous emotions we experience as human beings because it heightens stress we already feel about our daily lives (which in turn heightens our appetites so we tend to eat more and eat when we really are not hungry, not to mention a wide range of other health concerns), drains energy, spins our thoughts out of control, hinders our body’s ability to relax, leads us to assume the worst in every situation, increases our levels of irritability, and threatens us with nightly nightmares when we attempt to recharge with a good night’s sleep. But no matter what steps we incorporate to eliminate anxiety in our lives completely, the unpredictability of life itself makes elimination impossible.
But if you could drastically reduce your anxiety, would not it be wise to do so?
Develop a Schedule! Stick to this Schedule! Plan around this Schedule!
Develop Routines! Practice Routines! Master Routines!
I go to bed very near the same time every night, and I awake very near the same time each morning. It does not matter if I do not have work for two hours after I awake, because I use the morning time to get myself organized for the day or for later in the week or to relax with a cup of coffee and do some reading. I never rush to work and I am never late. And ready for this? I keep this schedule over the weekend as well.
And you know what? Sometimes I literally do not have the foggiest clue what day it is! Monday? Nah, it feels like a Tuesday! Well, it’s actually Wednesday.
When I come home from work, I have three blocks of time I utilize to finish household tasks or personal projects: The first block is an hour and a half long and I usually use this time to prepare my dinner or to do any cleaning or clothes folding or anything else domestically related, including interacting with family or doing favors for them; the second block is also an hour and a half long and I use this time for any personal projects I am working on such as writing, organizing something I collect, or working on a skill I want to learn such as playing the piano or drawing, but the basic point of this block of time is it is for me, for my personal interests; the third block is for winding down from the day by eating dinner, reading, or watching a little television, and is most likely spent in the company of my family. And then I head to bed.
You are probably thinking nobody’s life can run this smoothly, or I must live a very boring life, but believe me, my life is jam packed with excitement and unpredictability. I have simply learned to plan most of it. Also, once you start following your schedule and sticking to it the best you can, the people in your life learn to adapt to it as well. They even start to adjust their times in order to interact with you as well as plan the time they will most likely need your help or a favor. But notice above—where I wrote, “...and sticking to it the best you can…”—I say this because I do not want or expect you to turn people away in your life because they disrupt your schedule, or to ignore things needing attention, such as mailing an important-time-sensitive form to your insurance company randomly appearing in the mail or getting your driver’s license renewed when you notice its overdue the following day just to stay on schedule. Break your schedule when you see fit, plan when you can in advance when you know your schedule will be broken, like preparing your meals for the week on Saturday instead of Sunday because you have relatives coming over for dinner on Sunday and you will not have time to cook those meals. And if your schedule is broken by the forces of nature, such as a power outage or snow storm, and prevention is not in your control, causing you tons of anxiety, break it again to calm down and relax—but the key is to begin your schedule again when you are calmed and energized. Consistency is key.
Still do not believe me? Here is a list of some benefits to developing daily schedules and routines: (and notice I say some because each person will find more and other personalized benefits as well):
- They help you kick bad habits
- They reduce effort and mental strain by taking decision-making out of the process
- You will remember more and forget less because they make actions automatic
- They save time
- They improve the efficiency of every action or project you engage in
- They decrease stress and anxiety
- They help you sculpt your life to look just as you want it look and be how you want it to be
No comments:
Post a Comment