Do you do the same things every day?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
Is your life like a CD player in Repeat mode; the identical songs playing over and over.
The same procedure as last year, The same procedure as every year?
How often do you try new things?
Do you step outside your comfort zone?
How could one live life doing the same things every day for the rest of their life?
Just repeating the same tasks over and over again and again.
Seeing the same things day after day. Nothing new. Nothing exciting or enjoyable.
What can we do to bring new experiences to our sometime boring life?
- Maybe volunteer somewhere that your experience would be valuable.
- Take up, Paint by Numbers. So simple and it makes one look like an expert.
- Write about your wants, Desires and needs. A great outlet and an insight into
who you really are and who you want to be.
- Play the "Twister" floor game with family/friends. A bit of frivolity does
wonders for the Psyche.
- Heard of "Spirograph"? Create intricate designs to marvel at.
- Go to a fun fair, ride the Roller Coaster
- Try a new hairstyle/outfit
- Declutter your home and throw out those things that sit there year after
year. It is only stuff
- Join an Ice Cream Making Club
- Do Jigsaws and have them Framed.
- Buy a tent and go camping with your Partner/Best friend and watch the sun
rise.
Life is too short to be "Stuck in a Rut"
 

katlupe said:
I am definitely not stuck in a rut.
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Me neither... and I'm usually not.. but currently I am kinda... in that I can't travel in the way that most of you here know that I usually do..... but hopefully the start of 2022 will be better than the last 2 years which has seen us stuck at home most of the time



I have a horror of routine, so I definitely don't do the same things at the same time every day..
 
I always thought of myself as a free spirit-free to do whatever, whenever. Although, I eat the same breakfast day in, and day out, and yes my Mom-Friday TV watching is exactly the same as I begin my day. But that's how I like it. To me, it's not a rut, but a way of life. Yeah, I could change it, yet, why? It's what works.
BTW, it turns out I'm not such a free spirit, I love my creature comforts way too much.
 
Thanks for opening up this discussion, Bretrick!

It depends. I think there's something to be said about having a routine, particularly as we get older. It gives us a sense of security and comfort. Exploring the world and trying new things is something I did in my youth. Plenty of it! I was everywhere, traveling the world, dancing, singing, playing music, volunteering, exploring, going to college, having a family, etc. Almost everything you listed.

Now it's different. The pandemic is one of the reasons. My aging body is another. The third thing that has kept me more sedentary is my reading/writing. So I have to push myself each day to exercise and get out there, and I do but it doesn't have the same excitement it had when I was younger. It's more like a routine, like brushing my teeth.

However, I travel and do things in my mind now, where before, I was doing it with my body. When I write, I am transported to another place, like I'm doing now, writing my thoughts here. Same thing happens when I listen to music or watch a movie, we live through that experience and are transported elsewhere, as if we ourselves were actually doing it. I think it has to do with something called mirroring. Another way to think about it is vicarious living. This has been written about in research articles.
 
palides2021 said:
Thanks for opening up this discussion, Bretrick!

It depends. I think there's something to be said about having a routine, particularly as we get older. It gives us a sense of security and comfort. Exploring the world and trying new things is something I did in my youth. Plenty of it! I was everywhere, traveling the world, dancing, singing, playing music, volunteering, exploring, going to college, having a family, etc. Almost everything you listed.

Now it's different. The pandemic is one of the reasons. My aging body is another. The third thing that has kept me more sedentary is my reading/writing. So I have to push myself each day to exercise and get out there, and I do but it doesn't have the same excitement it had when I was younger. It's more like a routine, like brushing my teeth.

However, I travel and do things in my mind now, where before, I was doing it with my body. When I write, I am transported to another place, like I'm doing now, writing my thoughts here. Same thing happens when I listen to music or watch a movie, we live through that experience and are transported elsewhere, as if we ourselves were actually doing it. I think it has to do with something called mirroring. Another way to think about it is vicarious living. This has been written about in research articles.
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As I approach my dotage I am slowing down as well.
Not going out into the bush as often. The body is starting to have a few aches and pain. So I need to be more careful when I do go camping.
My broken ankle will see me stuck at home for a couple more months.
I remember when I broke my left foot 4 years ago, I went bush before it was fully healed and was traipsing up steep hillsides and my foot started aching.
Will give my ankle more time to heal before venturing out.
 
Life is largely routine. We get up, go to sleep, groom and eat at roughly the same times each day. When we had jobs a lot of our work was fully routine or at least routine-ish. Humans recognize and thrive on patterns. Children ask to be read the same books and watch the same movies over and over.

Am I in a rut? Hard to say. Life feels good to me right now (pandemic restrictions excepted). Change isn't always welcome nor does it necessarily bring joy or satisfaction.

p.s. LOL on playing Twister. If I suggested that to my friends or adult children they'd pull my husband aside to advise him I needed a check-up from the neck-up. Who plays Twister after age 30 unless it's to keep your kids busy? At our age we're trying to prevent falls...
 
I like to watch 'Young & Restless' every M-F, 12:30 pm on CBS. I also like the first half of the 'View' from 11-11:30+, ABC. I can't always do this, but when I'm home, I do. And if I'm doing something I don't like, I think I'd rather be watching these shows than not.

Every Saturday @9am I watch 'Smerconish' on CNN; Sundays I start at 6am with Joel Osteen then at 9am Jake Tapper, CNN; George Stephanopolis on ABC, then last, but hardly least,'Reliable Sources' with the wonderful, fantastic Brian Stelter on CNN. Brian is a gem, IMO. I love his wife, Jamie, too, on NY1 and see her M-F with her fabulous crew.

Don't watch TV afternoons. So, it appears to me I'm a prisoner of my TV habits, at least in the mornings.
 
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Well, I have a routine of sorts to the beginning and end of my day....it's the in-between stuff that often changes, depending on what my clients need, what work Ron is doing, whose turn it is to go to the grocery store, what he and I decide to do on the weekend, if there's something a family member needs (babysitting, help with a project etc.,)

When you're presented with an opportunity to do something different and you demur because it will change your established patterns, and you find that disturbing, I think you're in a rut.

For example, like to be in bed no later than 10. But if I have an opportunity to do something that keeps me up past my established bedtime (going out to dance, dinner with friends, babysitting, concert, whatever) I have NO hesitation in forging ahead. I have friends who would not make that same decision because it steps outside of the box they have established for themselves. *I* think they're in a rut.
 
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I've always done better with a routine, I don't think of it as a rut so much as an efficient plan of work first/play later.

I get up around five or six (daylight savings time messes with me) bring my coffee to the computer, do my daily devotional page, followed by Google news, then message board fun to see who's up and saying good morning.

Then it's time for the chores of the day; I make my rounds of trash pick-up, bed making and then if It's Monday it's dust and vacuum, if it's Tuesday it must be bathrooms, etc. until Friday which I save for doctor and dentist appointments.

Lunch, is followed by fun stuff like reading which turns into a nap, then more fun stuff, online games and talk, until dinner and even it has a schedule, Monday Italian, Tuesday Mexican, and so on.

TV doesn't usually come on until 7 PM for Jeopardy, the rest of the evening varies. TCM for movies, Dateline, Wednesday is Survivor right now, Sunday is my big PBS night.

The weekends are more random, my husband is around then and we do more things away from the house. I am definitely a homebody and was long before Covid gave me an excuse.
 

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