The Freedom of Routines
Nov. 24th, 2025 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allezhopI follow someone (povertytoparadise) on YouTube who lives full time on cruise ships. She was talking about how much freedom she feels after giving up the hassles of U.S. life and living on a cruise ship - which is a surprise to no one. Living on a cruise ship sounds pretty great, even if the quarters are small.
But she wasn't talking about the cruise experience itself as much as the routine of it. She has a structure that she follows every day, and there is enough variety to keep her from getting bored.
I'm not going to try to say my life is like a cruise (still counting the days to vacation - 42!) but I am definitely finding that as I'm getting more consistent with routines, I am feeling much more relaxed and enjoying the process. I also have cut out a lot of my wasted time on games after work, and with my workout at 3:30, I finally got to the point it does feel like I'm letting go of the stress of the work day. I have enough energy left to blog and work on my baby YouTube channel. (It will be a while before I link it. I almost like not having any viewers for now. I feel like once I build up a library of videos I'll feel more confident.) Even time for reading, knitting ... and that leaves the whole evening.
Even though I go to bed pretty early, I like having some chill time in the evening to watch TV. I think it's a bit more relaxing to my system than playing phone games and listening to podcasts, though I can't put my finger on why.
Anyway, it does seem to reduce the decision fatigue, and even though I had a few days where I crashed last week, it's not the daily habit anymore. I've noticed there's not much anxiety these days, even around teaching. And I have energy and am happy more of any given day than I can remember ... well, ever.
But she wasn't talking about the cruise experience itself as much as the routine of it. She has a structure that she follows every day, and there is enough variety to keep her from getting bored.
I'm not going to try to say my life is like a cruise (still counting the days to vacation - 42!) but I am definitely finding that as I'm getting more consistent with routines, I am feeling much more relaxed and enjoying the process. I also have cut out a lot of my wasted time on games after work, and with my workout at 3:30, I finally got to the point it does feel like I'm letting go of the stress of the work day. I have enough energy left to blog and work on my baby YouTube channel. (It will be a while before I link it. I almost like not having any viewers for now. I feel like once I build up a library of videos I'll feel more confident.) Even time for reading, knitting ... and that leaves the whole evening.
Even though I go to bed pretty early, I like having some chill time in the evening to watch TV. I think it's a bit more relaxing to my system than playing phone games and listening to podcasts, though I can't put my finger on why.
Anyway, it does seem to reduce the decision fatigue, and even though I had a few days where I crashed last week, it's not the daily habit anymore. I've noticed there's not much anxiety these days, even around teaching. And I have energy and am happy more of any given day than I can remember ... well, ever.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-24 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-25 11:29 pm (UTC)