I am, and always have been, a creature of routine. A routine makes things predictable and thereby safe. I'm not a spontaneous person and surprises are generally speaking not OK.
Take the gym for example. I tried going to a gym 8 years ago, but it was an all-in gym. No two visits were the same. There were multiple decisions to be made each time. Where should I start? What setting should the treadmill be on? Should I go to the weights bench when it was surrounded by big tattooed men? (No brainer that one, actually.) What should I do with my water bottle, towel, stuff generally?
Curves is different. There's a built in routine. Walk in, scan card, scan CurvesSmart tag, walk to recovery board in front of the desk, begin at the pull/push machine, complete two full circuits, stretch according to the chart on the wall, mark off CurvesCash on record card, scan CurvesSmart tag to assess how I went, collect bag, water and keys from the pigeon holes, go home. It's the same every time. It's predictable and safe. No decisions required.
The lack of routine when the kids came home from hospital as babies was the second biggest issue for me. I had to develop a new routine for everything. Nothing was predictable and thereby safe. Everything was wrong. It took years to get a routine going for all the little pieces. Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer sometimes it takes a while to figure out the routines. For example, I've only just worked out that in order to get to tennis by 5pm, I have to have the kids ready with all their gear at the door by 3.30pm. We don't leave for another hour after that, but it has to be ready to go then.
You may have noticed a distinct lack of posting recently. It's down to (again) a change in routine. Mister Bear has been seconded to a project team for the next 18 months. It's a great appointment and a wonderful opportunity for him. It comes, though, with a huge drawback.
The project office is at Taren Point.
On the Taren Point days he's gone for up to 12 hours, sometimes beyond. We never know from one day to the next where he will be: head office or the project office. The Monday-Wednesday-Friday gym routine is thrown. The going/leaving routine is thrown. The knowing-where-he-is-and-where-he-will-be routine is thrown. The dinner routine is thrown. Basically the whole shape and pattern of our lives is thrown and this Little Black Ducky is not coping with all the changes. It's very sad and pathetic, but it is what it is and at 40 I don't see much hope of it ever changing.
The next 18 months are going to be like this - unpredictably unpredictable.
I not like it.
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