Routines

I am a routine type of person. I like knowing what I'm going to be doing and making lists and knowing what is going to be going on. Yes, I always leave room for the unexpected, but I do like my routines.

This past week has been a shake-up of my routines. Actually, this past year has been that way and it shook me up - sometimes too much. The past week's shaking involved family and gatherings and all the "stuff" that goes with the holidays. I loved having my children home. I loved all the cooking and decorating and hoopla. But I am just as glad to get back to my normal routine.

The past year has been one of major life upheavals with a move from the house where we'd lived for twenty years in a town we'd been in for most of thirty-plus years. That and major health issues for my husband, a broken hip and other problems for my mother-in-law, and other things that go with life. All of these seemed to hit at about the same time. We got through them all, but my routines were completely messed up.

And I survived. Amazing. For the better part of the year, there were no schedules beyond my husband's work schedule. No routines beyond get up when we needed to and go to bed when the day was done. Everything in between was subject to the vagaries of the weather and availability of trucks and friends and other's routines. Yes, I had a few melt-downs. But overall, I believe I came out stronger in the end.

Will I give up my lists and planning ahead? Nope. I am a creature of habit. But I also know that I can get by with little or no planning and that plans are often the first thing to be destroyed in the face of life. Over the next few days, I will be concentrating on setting my goals for the coming year. They will be both personal and professional goals. But they will include room for the unexpected. And when that happens, I will attempt to embrace the change and grow with it.

But for now, I need to get this done so I can go on to the next item on my to do list. :)

Today's thought: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

Today's teaser: As writer's we need to develop a writing process that is flexible, yet provides structure. How can you arrange your schedule to provide both?