Routine is good. It provides us predictability, structure and a certain semblance of control over our daily lives.
It’s the comfort we feel in the company of our family. In the familiar laughter of our children. In the warmth of our home on a cold winter’s night. In the familiar voices we hear on a morning radio program.
Routine provides solace and centering in times of great despair … times when the struggle is just too hard and we retreat into the sanctity of the familiar.
However, routine can be bad. It lulls us into a false sense of security. It makes us reluctant to branch out beyond our daily existence and try new things. It gives us a false belief that nothing exists beyond our own little slice of the universe. It leads to closed thinking that often holds us back from trying something really different and being the change we wish to see.
We all fight this battle on a daily basis -- the battle we wage against the monotony. Tired of fighting the same battles. Driving the same roads. Having the same arguments. Listening to the same people complain about the same problems.
And that’s the challenge, really. To rage against the routine. To extract the most out of this life that we can. To find things in our lives that give us joy and excitement and pleasure and stimulation and challenge and meaning and exhilaration and a touch of danger all at the same time.
Let’s face it: In the end, no one here is getting out alive. Sometimes we just need a little push to take that crucial next step.
I'm Wester Wuori, and that's my perspective.
