GETTING BACK TO THE ROUTINE . . . 

Happy New Year!  It’s here whether we were ready for it or not!  I always look forward to the new year to begin with a clean slate, a fresh start and, hopefully, a bright, new outlook.  We normally go out of town and celebrate New Years quietly.  This year, because of different schedules, we stayed in town.  We had a little dinner party for other folks who were “losers” like us with no real plans.  We hoped to celebrate on “Bermuda” time and have everyone out the door by 10 pm.  Yeah, we are real partiers!  However, someone turned on disco music and somehow we ended up in a disco dance fest.  It was fabulous!  I hope yours was also fabulous in its own way and that you welcomed in the New Year with your own celebration.

I began this morning ready for my usual Friday morning routine and teaching a body sculpt class at our local YMCA.  It was packed with a lot of new faces.  Others wanting to start fresh for the new year.  As I have really taken several days to unwind and chill out, I am now beginning to need my routine back.  I’m thinking it’s time to get back to school, back to work, back to making healthy dinners, getting to bed and getting up in the mornings.  I feel so much better when I am on a schedule and getting things accomplished and being effecient.  I mentioned to one of the class members today that I felt like I had been lazy lately and it was time to get back to leading bootcamps and back to a normal routine.  She responded with a very simple statement, but it hit me as so wise.  She said, “You have to get out of the routine to appreciate the routine.”  Wow!  That felt like an “aha” moment.  I’m not sure why I haven’t looked at it like that before, but she was exactly right.  

We can all get caught up in our same ol’ same ol’ until it becomes rote.  Or stale.  Or we burn out on it.  It can become ineffective and exhausting.  We become resentful of the routine and want a break.  So, we take the break and rest and become revived and rejuvinated until, at last, we crave that same routine again.  Isn’t that just marvelous!  

You may love your old routine or be ready to start a new one.  This is the perfect time to think about that as we all start out fresh.  If you aren’t quite there and ready to jump back in full force, that’s fine, too.  Take small steps to getting back on track or maybe a tweak to your routine will do the trick.  I’m choosing to think about this break from routine as a great time to appreciate it and not feel guilty about enjoying some time away from the norm.