Why I Can't Really Survive without Routines | Life Love and Hiccups: Why I Can't Really Survive without Routines
Life Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and Hiccups

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Why I Can't Really Survive without Routines

Pin It

As this post goes live I am officially back to work. Yup - summer holidays are but a distant memory with nothing but my irresponsibly bronzed skin to remind me that I was a lady of leisure for 5 weeks.

The truth is though, I don't actually mind being back at work. Sure I would rather be sitting on my arse by the pool sipping a cocktail and flicking through a pile of mags or more likely hanging out with the kids and mediating arguments over whose go it is to be Sonic or helping my baby count to 50 in a game of hide and seek. But alas - it is what it is. I am a working mama and life goes on.

The reason I don't mind so much getting back into the workday routine is partially this ...


That my interstate and overseas friends is the awful weather Sydney is experiencing at the moment so lying by the pool wouldn't be an option anyway. But the other reason, the real reason is that I am actually someone who thrives on routine.

There I said it, I am a routine Geek.

I'm by no means a slave to the clock, on the contrary - I hate the concept of time and I get all stressy when I know have to be anywhere or do anything by a certain time, but I cope with it when I have my day organised. I like things to run smoothly and when I know where I need to be and what I need to do, I'm definitely sailing on calmer waters.

For the past month I have been anything but organised. You see over the holidays I let things go to shit and whilst I had a lot of fun doing it, it is time to get back to normal.

I don't think I am cut out to be a completely fly by the seat of my pants structure free mama. I just couldn't function like that long term. Where I would normally have a list of things I need to do each day, my to do list was nothing more than a jumble of "oh craps" as I fumbled my way in the dark trying to remember where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing.

I promised people I would do things, and then completely forget about it the next minute because I didn't write it down.

My mind was crammed full of fabulous ideas for projects I wanted to do and crafts I wanted to try, but I didn't ever get around to doing even a third of them as I couldn't remember what they were because I didn't write any of them down.

My poor husband had no idea where we were half the time because I didn't write it down on the calender and I forgot to charge my phone so he couldn't reach us.

I am so far behind in responding to comments on the blog and my inbox overflowed with unread emails because I was too busy doing whatever I damn well felt like doing rather than sitting down in my usual scheduled time to answer emails.

We lived out of clothes baskets as I never got around to putting the clothes away, hell I was lucky to remember to put the washing machine on.

We ate dinner when my grumbling stomach got louder than the kids whining for food and my children's non existent bedtimes meant major meltdowns the next day as sleep deprivation caught up with them.

No menu plans meant we spent more money eating out when the family didn't find canned tuna and eggs on toast particularly appealing. That happens when you cant be arsed writing a shopping list or even making the effort to go to the supermarket for that matter. 

When I am working aka organised, running to a routine and in control of things, I have set days of the month that I pay bills and do all the administrative stuff you need to do to run a household. Instead I have reminder notices for bills piling up in my office, at least I think they are reminders - I guess I'll find out when I get around to opening them or when the electricity gets disconnected. Either or!

And because I had no structure to my day my bedtime was non existent and whilst there is nothing overly wrong with sitting up until 2am knitting or reading books, my sleep deprived mind would beg to differ.

I loved every minute of the Summer break and as I mentioned before I am going to do my best to try and keep that holiday vibe going. But all good things must come to an end and as much as I hate to admit it for me and for my family, going back to work and getting back into our normal routines is a good thing.

At least that's what I am telling myself for now. Whether I truly believe it or not is another thing.....

Are you a routine free lover or do you need a little organisation to get you by?