The Little Routines

    A lesson I've learned throughout the last few years of my life has been how surprisingly valuable having routines is. I know, shocker. I must be the last person on Earth to discover that doing things consistently will lead to progress, stability, and general happiness. However, I still wanted to talk about routines I have for a little bit, if only because I can't think of anything else to blog about today (technically I could've reviewed the Minecraft Movie, but that's a joke). It's all about the small moments of consistency in life that add up to a greater, happier picture.

    For example, one of the first routines I had established with Wade, my roommate, was watching anime together every other night. Neither of us were really "anime nerds" by any stretch of the definition, but we both were interested in exploring a medium that we both weren't familiar with, and sharing that experience with each other provided nice, calm nights where we were able to just sit on my bed and watch Japanese cartoons together and eat pizza. It wasn't until we ran out of animes to watch that we realized how much we had subconsciously enjoyed our little biweekly tradition. It seems silly to say, but the reality is that both Wade and I can get pretty busy during the week due to our respective responsibilities and classwork, so there are days where we go the whole day, maybe even two days without seeing each other, despite living in the same apartment and sharing a bathroom. As soon as we finished our anime nights, we lost that consistent excuse to hang out, and that enlightened us to the need for having a joint tradition to see each other.

    From there, we started going to a nearby burger joint (Relish) every Saturday morning for lunch, where we would order the same burgers every week, talk to the same cashier, and (almost) always sit at the same table. I've expressed in another blog post (months ago) how much I like the concept of being a "regular" somewhere, and this routine visit to Relish every week slowly cemented our place as usual customers to the restaurant, to the point where one day when I was rattling off my usual order to the cashier, she laughed and said, "Man, sorry. I should know your order by now." Beyond being a delicious meal (that's a little more expensive than what we'd usually pay for lunch), being routine Saturday customers at Relish provided us with a fresh background for our end-of-week catch up conversations, where we were able to rant about the problems in each of our lives, keep each other up to date with our current project deadlines, and have stupid conversations about joke topics. It's a simple concept, but after a month or two, this weekly lunch has become a staple of both of our schedules, and brought us closer together.

    However, little routines aren't just for joint ventures with Wade. It's important to have your own personal traditions to keep yourself busy and stimulated, and one of my favorite personal little routines is how every Tuesday and Thursday, as soon as I get out of class at 9 a.m., I make my way over to the Student Union building, grab myself an iced chai latte, and sit down for an hour or two on the balcony of the top floor to enjoy a quiet moment overlooking the rest of campus. Usually, I do my daily crossword puzzles (I'm a dork, I know) and check my emails. Whenever I'm a little behind on my blog posts (which seems to be almost every week) I like to sit at a table and just grind out a blog post or two in the morning before heading home for lunch. I'm not sure what makes me more productive up on that balcony, maybe its the lack of distractions or the fresh air, but I feel clear headed enough to word my thoughts plainly and quickly. It's just a few hours twice a week, but those are some of the best, most productive hours in my week, and they are well spent every single time.

    I'm not really sure what I want the takeaway from reading this blog to be... Maybe I want this to encourage you to find your own small routines, or if you already have them, take a moment to appreciate those small moments of consistency. We have one short life, and its kind of beautiful to fill them with wonderful traditions to fill up your days.

Also, don't even think about mentioning working out as a routine... That's what the summer is for.