Routine - good or bad?

“The day that lay before (was) full of infinite possibilities, though in a million superficial ways it was identical to the day before.”

Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

And not so superficial ways too - the sun rises, the sun sets, the world turns ...

I'm willing to bet that most people's day at least begins with routine. It's a way of waking up after all. Are there people who do things differently every morning? Sure, sometimes you wake up in a strange place - you are on holiday, visiting friends or family, dazed and confused or hungover in a strange place, and these mornings may begins somewhat differently than usual, but surely they are the occasional divergence from routine, not an everyday thing? Even those without a roof over their heads must have a morning routine - however, hopeless and despairing it might be. At the other end of the scale, even those on that luxury yacht The World, who wake up in a new place every day, must have a morning routine - however expensively different from our own it might be. The scenery might be different but the routine is most likely the same.

I started thinking about routine as I went into my own morning routine this morning. It begins with breakfast (always the same), some exercises, a shower, teeth cleaning, taking pills - the list goes on. They are necessary things that get me going every day, and whilst I think about what I might do later. As the picture at the top of the page demonstrates, routine has a bad name, so should I break out of my morning routine? What could I do that is different? And would it achieve anything anyway/ Would it just lead to a different routine?

As the day goes on the routine lessens somewhat, but with routine markers. Lunch, dinner, bed being the main ones. Each task undertaken, even each excursion or mini adventure has its own little set of routines - the way we approach things.

So what are the good things about routine? They say that children like routine. Indeed that routine is important to them. It shapes their world, gives them security, boundaries. Well it gives us all security doesn't it? And we all fundamentally want to feel safe - well maybe with the exception of teenage boys. Which sounds a bit sexist and ageist I know, but there is some scientific evidence for this.

But as in all things we don't want to get too comfortable, too secure do we? Or do we? I really don't know. Being one of life's cowards I'm probably guilty of clinging too much to the routine, the safe, the known. But deep down I wish I was otherwise I think. Or is this merely the media hype of romantic films and novels, the people who have made a mark. The risk takers. Do I really wish that I took more chances? Which now that I think about it, may be why I like cooking so much. It enables me to try something new - but safely. It's a way of expressing something within myself I think, though I also think that you need to understand the routine and the technique that has been developed by others over the centuries - unlike Bruce Lee (of all people) in the quote below, who, like all such daring people rather scorns the safe and the routine.

“If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow - you are not understanding yourself.” Bruce Lee

You need the basic skills, in cooking, as in life, in order to be able to safely experiment. Danger for its own sake just leads to disaster. Well that's what I think anyway. Although, of course, we are back to outstretching your grasp aren't we? It's certainly true that most 'successful' people have taken chances - but think of all the other people who have taken chances and not been successful. Besides, once successful, they most likely fall into some kind of routine.

I guess my life is routine. I have been married to the same person for a few days short of fifty years. We have lived in Australia, almost all of it in Melbourne, for almost as long. Yes we have had our ups and downs, our journeys and little excitements, but none of it has been exceptional. Which is not to say that it is not worthwhile. Wonderful even.

“Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in you humdrum routine, the true poetry of life - the poetry of the commonplace, of the ordinary person, of the plain, toilworn, with their loves and their joys, their sorrows and griefs.” William Osler

Which takes me back to the quote at the top of the page and its infinite possibilities in every day. As in all things - a little bit of everything does you good.

"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine." Mike Murdoch

Which sounds a bit ominous if your routine is as dull as mine!