Morning Musings on Routine Slobber · Aug 31 by Kurt Peterson
I never used to be a morning person. Mornings were for good heavy, eye-twitching REM sleep. But as time draws on, with new people in your life, new routines, and Kona, who can’t resist licking me in the face at 5 am, it will soon drive you to become a morning person. Thank God for french-press coffee and tennis ball dog toys. Throw ball, sip java, pick up slobbery ball, throw, sip java, repeat—all before the sun hits the treetops.
In between reps I began to wonder, watching the dim chocolate shape bound through the dewy grass after each throw, that routines are like age and maturity, they both increase over time (for most people). It’s certainly the case for my parents. But is this good or bad? Good if after work, you can be found running your local trail. Or taking your kid brother to the park. Or picking up trash along a roadside every third Saturday morning.
Then it hit me—or rather Kona did, nearly knocking me over in an effort to snatch the loose ball at my feet—routines aren’t necessarily bad or good, just a product of time and a sense of getting done what needs to get done. You have them to keep some semblance of sanity and sort through the information-overloaded life we all live now.
But what about the unhealthy routines? Ask yourself this, do you really need that lunchtime cigarette? Should you always drive to the 1-mile distant grocery store every week when you could, say, walk the dog there. You always hear, “break the routine!” I say, “Vary the routine!” Keep doing the Friday afternoon time with your son or daughter, but take them for a sunset paddle one week. Then, the pool the next. Then the library. You catch my drift?
Looking down at the slobbery tennis ball at my equally slobbered feet. I’m finding this routine one I need to keep, early and slobbery though it may be. But maybe next time we’ll walk the neighborhood on the other side of the street and see what’s around the corner of my community.
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