Addressing the topic of self-growth and more specifically routine, I am not sure whether to feel like my 50-year-old mom reading Atomic Habits or an online character who bases their life on hyper productivity.
As much as I like discussing this topic, sometimes I still feel a disconnect whenever it is time to have a routine. Nir Eyal, another one of those fleeting self-help authors, defines routine as a series of behaviors that are built over time. A habit is a behavior done with “little or no thought”.
Therefore, behaviors or habits performed regularly become a routine.
As university students living in a fast-paced society, the implementation of a routine could avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed and unfulfilled. Without it, it can be challenging to move forwards.
The author Marcel Proust sees the lack of this routine as:
“The anesthetic influence of habits having stopped, I started to think, to feel, things so sad.”
In other words, his idea states that without numbing consistency, we are much more prone to feel anguish. The quote connotes that although we feel lost without habits, they can serve as a blanket to smother our curiosities and desires that stray away from our current selves.
Personally, as period 6 was beginning, I found myself a bit unsure of where to go, how to act, and what to do. Instead of evaluating courses, I was reevaluating myself. Finding a routine post-study week seemed like it was the solution as well as the poison.
I lingered between the end of exams and the first weeks of period six, without routine, between peaks of happiness and depths of sadness. I realized that my idea of self-growth, heavily influenced as the one depicted across the media, was not as linear as I thought it would be.
During this slump, I began to make good acquaintance with a special something. Some people love it, others despise it. It was none other than: Time.
By being frenemies with Time, I let myself rest in this state of numbness and confusion. Sure, this rest felt long, boring, and stagnant – like the U.S gun reform.
But taking things slow gave me some clarity.
It might be best for our conscience to be submerged under water before riding the waves again.
And all I needed was Time, panini sandwiches, a good vibrator, and an overpriced journal.