Change versus Routine

As I’ve mentioned before, I enjoy change. I think most people do, as the dull and predictable, staid and static life soons becomes a ditch-water dull drag.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for routine. The familiar lends itself to easy comfort.

At the moment I’m trying to balance the two, change and routine, routine and change. My work routine of the past few years has changed and, as that has the largest bearing on my time, the rest of my daily/weekly routine is changing too. But that’s fine, it was expected. Anticipated change is a good thing.

The main stuff is first, when to leave the house in the morning, when best to leave the office at night, that kind of thing. Of course it has to be fitted into the ‘home’ routine; Monday and Tuesday nights Louise is out early, I’m out on Wednesday evenings. After that come the secondary activities, running and design work for me, then the daily tasks and finally the downtime for watching TV, reading books and so on.

Naturally that routine is up for change, but by and large it can be consider constant, within acceptable boundaries…

Of course what this doesn’t really factor in is those curveballs life enjoys pitching at you. That unexpected expenditure, the unplanned DIY (think broken fence post), and other less pleasant life events.

And that’s when stress becomes a factor. The unexpected change to routine hits hard and you start to fight back, desperate to keep your routine, to keep things normal, to stay in control as much as is possible.

But if you take a different viewpoint then, well, it’s just more change to deal with so I guess I need to clarify my position. I enjoy EXPECTED change.

Now, if you’ve read this far you are probably hoping I have some sort of point. Naturally I don’t. I’ll leave that up to you lot.

Which do you prefer? Change or routine? And are the two mutually exclusive?

Comments

  1. I like routine. I like having a usual. I like coffee people to know my coffee. I like the comfort of knowing where I stand.

    This gives me the flexibility to change when and if I want.

    Curveballs on the other hand, rather than make me stronger seem to make me weaker. I can do without the curveballs. I’ve had enough of them.

    Of in cricket terms, give me a batsman’s wicket with predictable bounce so I knock a ton. I’m tired of being edged to slip, and having a quick innings.

  2. I don’t like change… Unless it’s my own Deliberate Change. that’s like Expected Change, but not necessarily so expected – if you see what I mean.

    By the way, while we’re on the subject of change, where are your Other Blogs links this morning?

  3. Currently being edited, although not entirely sure why they aren’t all being displayed… ohh well, something else to add to the list!

  4. Personally, I love Change. I see it the way Adrian sees Routine.

    I hate routine – although I do have some bits that are very predictable. Herself knows that once I’ve been in a workplace for around six months, I start hating it. So even the Change has a Routine, in some ways.

    When I’m on auto-pilot, say first thing in the morning, Routine is good. And for the smaller things in life, it’s good too. If everything is chaotic then I find that having some things in a routine can make life easier, and more handleable (is that a word?) But particularly when it comes to work, and in general the way I live my life, I far prefer Change to Routine. I’m not good at being settled, and after a while it drives me crackers.

    But I suspect I’m very much in the minority on that score.

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