Make It Routine
Tuesday Tidings #10
My jacket glides over my shoulders. My hat snuggles up on my ears. And my new fuzzy slipper-shoes fully encase my feet. As the garage door ambles upward, like a curtain rising slowly, ever so slowly, for a big reveal, I realize I am not ready.
I pop back inside, pull the bag out of the kitchen garbage can, fill it up with the last-minute squeezed lemon halves and that one, errant disposable coffee cup that I had brought in from my car. With the cold air seeping in through the wide-open garage, I scramble to empty one more cardboard box, separate out the packaging I can use when I build my next fire, and throw the rest into the garbage bag I still hold in my left hand.
It feels good to be in my at-home routine. No, it’s good to feel at home in my routine.
In two small trips, I wheel the only half-full, oversized-for-one garbage-bin cart to the end of the driveway and pile up the mix of cardboard boxes in a semi-organized stack next to it. I trudge back up the driveway, through the garage, and into the living room. In the middle of the kitchen, I come to a full stop.
Sticky notes with scribbled handwriting cover one end of my kitchen counter. In the next room, there are several very large, plain post-it note sheets in a row on the wall. They are checkered with small, multi-colored, sometimes lined, sticky notes. And on the floor, next to all those ideas, is my yoga mat and a thick, fluffy blanket.
The trash collection is a weekly routine to care for my home (that I sometimes skip). The creative map of sticky notes plus the yoga mat and fluffy blanket are part of a project-specific routine for my work. It comes and goes in spurts. And the most important routine I have, the one that grounds all of me into the here and now, is my daily morning routine. It is the one I do (or try to do) before I do anything else. I sit in the armchair in my sun room, look up several readings for the day, make notes in my journal, and share some key takeaways in one of two (now three) group chats I am in. This daily routine connects me to myself as much as it connects me to others.
Today, of all days, I am grateful I have this routine. There is so much, too much, going on in the world. Most of it feels totally out of control as the swirl of pain, grief, and fear often, too often, transforms into rage—a rage that is sometimes, too often, directed at others with deadly consequences. Sometimes we hear about them. More often, we do not. All together, it is heart-breaking on too many levels to count, and it grates on my nervous system. None of it should be routine, and yet, most days, it seems to be.
I am tempted to get swept up inside of that wave, and not only justify my self-righteous anger, but also let loose a torrent of hate fueled by my own sense of justice. It’s all in here, in me, as much as it is all out there, in them, which really means, it is all around us, in us.
And that’s why I am so grateful for my routine. In the quiet of the early morning, with the sun just tickling the treetops and my pen moving across the lined pages of paper, I can take stock of where I am, how I feel and what I can do. It allows me to get real about my motives and address my judgment, so I can redirect my energy into something that can serve my community instead of tearing it down.
Every day (when I do it), my routine helps me give the love I need to myself, and keeps my heart open to want to offer love to somebody else.
And that is a routine I would like to see be, well, routine.
PS—for anyone who read last week’s post and wondered how everything turned out, I am here to report that I spent an hour with three very lovely people who also took a walk in the cold to meet in the room at the top of the staircase. And while the heaters struggled to warm the air, the warmth of being together more than made up for that. Next time I am in the area, I will certainly go back.
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Meals Out: Well, I am back to my routine of going out for brunch on the weekend (or to a friend’s house for dinner which I did on Saturday). Since many of my usual options were closed for a January reset and routine maintenance work, I enjoyed a traditional eggs Benedict at Village Square.
Listening (voice): My listening routine however has not yet returned. That’s because I have been working on some projects and have not had time to listen to other podcasts. I do look forward to catching up once I am through this week.
Listening (song most likely on repeat): I picked up one of my fave kind of routines this weekend. I put on some tunes, super loud, and danced in-between putting sticky notes up on the wall. During that time, one song stood out—Light of a Clear Blue Morning by The Wailin’ Jennys, a cover version of Dolly Parton’s song (the original is also a great listen). Its power is in the beautiful harmony of voices…something I would like to see become routine.
Watching: I am back to my routine of watching British mysteries series. When I scanned through my options, I realized there is an original version of Lynley (the “new” show I found on Prime with BritBox sub that I mentioned a few posts back). This one, the original, is called The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (also on Prime with BritBox sub). It is a different, early 2000s and therefore less slick, but just as good, and,in some ways, better version. I love that even in the routine there are new discoveries to be made. Plus, I really enjoy seeing British actors I have seen in other shows/movies in these earlier-in-their-careers iterations.
Most Hours Logged Doing: I was back in the swing of my creative routine which involves going through several edits of an idea to narrow it down to its essence. To do that, I break things up with walks (with or without a friend), baking a cake, and playing board games at a friend’s house after dinner. Now that I know how I work best and have this kind of established routine to fall back on, it makes all of it so much easier and way, way more fun.
Tuesday Morning Meditation: 1.13.25
Put love at the heart of any routine.
Is there a topic you would like me to write about in a Tuesday Tidings? Cover in a podcast episode? I am curious about what you are curious about and would love to hear from you so leave a comment below or drop me line.