If you ask me, I’ve always been more of a spontaneous person than a rigid, fixed and organised one. However, in recent years I’ve come to realise that routine holds real allure. And that’s what this article is gonna be about.
I suppose I’ll start with a reflection on some of my own routines, and how it feels to do them. Now, the last two weeks especially were more like performance-rehearsal weeks, so I got home late at night. That sadly prevented me from exacting my usual routine of reading 2 pages of a Japanese light novel which is kinda like a bedtime routine for me too.
I only managed to resume doing this routine yesterday. And how did it feel? Well, it felt exhilarating and liberating. Minor as it might be on the surface, it brought me immense comfort.
Let’s move on to another new routine of mine that I’ve rather recently acquired. That is, I spend some time doing a Japanese N2 vocab quiz from a quiz bot. I’m currently like 78% through btw and once I’m done I guess I might just move on to an N1 quiz. Anyway, been doing it almost daily.
So about this routine. I’ve found comfort in it too from the sense of familiarity as a regular enough though minor source of fulfilment.
And of course there are also those routines that are kinda even thoroughly!!! tied with my identity already, such as making posts and articles and even counting steps walking after lunch and dinner. Healthy lifestyle yeah.
But those aren’t what I’d like to talk about today. Rather, what I’d like to talk about are the activities that aren’t quite there yet. See, the thing about these activities is that they’re uh, described quite well with this one word – dispensable.
For instance, maybe every now and then, occasionally, I choose to turn that YouTube group Zumba video on then do it to clock those steps instead of literally walking.
Still, let’s zoom out into a long-term perspective.
Is this part of my routine? No!
Because you see, what a routine does is that it sees you continually walking!! those neural pathways and embedding them into you. It’s imprinting your second nature, literally. Because see, when the time comes… click! You enter the mode and flow of the activity with like seriously just the snap of a finger.
Why am I referring to this issue?
Well, because I was kinda thinking about it you see.
Why is it that I find it somewhat not so easeful, smooth and effortless to start composing piano music for my next song even though technically the rest of the piece was already created way back? Well, it’s because of the unfamiliarity to be honest… This neural pathway is so new, this track has footprints only barely stamped into the ground to leave a trail.
So how can I expect it to be so easeful like second nature to me to just head on to do it with but a snap of my fingers?!! No! Of course it ain’t that way! And I don’t actually have to immediately weakly link it to my own incompetence or lack of affinity for it. Rather… the hours! Or lack thereof!
So basically this is how it works. Right now, it’s totally foreign to me. Yet the more I do it, the more this pattern will be imprinted into my brain. Therefore my creations will take increasingly lesser time, hardship!! Seriously, gone will be the lack of familiarity like a fish not being in water.
So there you have it. That’s the conclusion I came to.
Therefore at the end of all this, this begs the question: What do I want to be my comfort?
For once you have decided on those candidates, what do you do? Well, ya merge them into yo routine. The routine is the structural framework, and the very exacting of these activities themselves, to be honest, also kind of provides a tangible embodied vibration to zero, lock in on. Because see, I mean, however much aptitude you might have for a certain domain, they will only exist as potentialities until you actually lock in and actualise em!
Uh, so what I mean that if you put that energy out into the universe, by laws of metaphysics, said energy can only! attract what is a vibrational match and all. In more direct 3D terms, you come into camaraderie joyfully with people who share the same interests or eventually come to develop your skills in that domain to a weave a stunning tapestry.
Yep. That’s it. So huh, that’s why I really wouldn’t like it if I were to not attend my regular weekly badminton session tomorrow, which I have sadly also been missing due to rehearsals and such. Again, why? Well, it’s simply because that is my comfort. At the present moment at least. Ya see, if you really wanted to I can also go on to talk about attachment and letting go.
Like, if you are really attached to something you will find it terribly hard and painful to let it go. Whereas if you’re not? Heh! Spin on the heel, I had a good time, all the best, see you around, have a good life! That’s more like detachment science already and I won’t go into that. Though I will! say I’m relatively proficient in it. Lol.
And with that, I hereby end today’s article. It was interesting and fun to write like always. I may have mentioned, but as routine, for me it is even above comfort. It’s more towards identity and who I am already lol. Cya!