Student Blog: Getting Out of Routines

I found the topic for this month ironic considering how I’ve been trying to live my life recently. Ever since I was young, I’ve relied on rigid routines that I made for myself. Waking up, working out, and doing school work each had their own designated time in my day, and this system is what kept me going. I functioned like a well-oiled machine.

In some ways, this lifestyle was beneficial. It helped me stay disciplined and get things done, but it also made me walk around with blinders on. I was going from Point A to Point B without stopping or looking around at all. Existing like this, though, I had no idea everything that I was missing. I was missing out on time with friends, fun events, and even missing out on celebrating some of my own milestones like graduating high school. Rather than falling into a rhythm with my routine, I was caught in a rip tide. 

When I did pause my routine for a relaxing night with friends, I couldn’t wait until I could get back into the routine. I could never let myself fully enjoy the moment because I was scared of falling off of my track. 

As I entered into my last year of college (which is insane to say), I made it a goal for myself to get out of my routines more. I don’t want to just exist in the cycle of waking up, working out, going to classes, doing homework, and doing it all over again. Instead, I want to make the time to hang out with friends, explore LA some more, and find myself outside of the routines I have. This goal has proven difficult to achieve, though. 

The semester picks up quickly, making routines feel necessary to keep up with the compounding work. It’s not rare for me to accidentally spend an entire day in my apartment bouncing between homework, playing guitar, reading a book, and scrolling on my phone. As important as it is to have routines, it’s just as important to break out of these routines. Without being able to break out of a routine, it just becomes an endless cycle. 

I constantly have to remind myself that breaks are okay and that they’re actually quite necessary to keep doing my best work. When I let myself get burned out, the routines may still exist, but the work takes much longer. A class reading may take double the time it needs to because I can’t focus. Even though I’m doing everything I need to, I’m not doing it the best I can. And that’s not necessarily a personal fault. It’s more of a fault in my personal systems.

This distinction was important for me to acknowledge. So often, we place ourselves and our self-worth to blame for difficulty with work or slower accomplishments. Life is so much more than getting the highest grade on an assignment or being the first to an imaginary finish line, though. Life is so much more than constantly chasing a perfect routine. 

I hope that I can find a routine of falling out of routines. I’m slowly learning that the world doesn’t fall apart when routines do. If one routine isn’t working, it’s okay to pivot a little bit and make a new system for yourself.