macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis Adventure Girl – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

Adventure Girl

Nine days after the ‘big storm’ and I am still struggling to get back to my routine. I think I am back and something tosses me out again. My ride cannot take me as planned. My third job wants me to work and I cannot get back to town in time for activities. Etc. Etc. I am getting very weary of having my life in a jumble.

Recently I have either been hustling to make other arrangements on the fly – cannot very easily stay at school all night! – or just trying to accept the situation is what it is and I must deal with staying home or doing without or whatever. All of which takes a LOT of mental energy.

I know I have mentioned the value of routine, but I just looked and did not see a page dedicated to it. Guess I should change that.

I am an ‘adventure’ girl. When the nephews were small, adventures were standard fare. That said, I also value predictability in life. Adventures are fun because they stand in contrast to the mundane and routine. It is, in fact, a dialectic. One helps to define the other. Without one the other cannot exist.

Routine is a necessary part of life. It structures us and ‘pulls’ us along in our day. With routine, you don’t really have to think about it but your days get filled with meaningful activity.

In 2010 when 33 Chilean miners were trapped underground for 69 days they survived and maintained reasonable levels of sanity and civility by establishing work schedules and routines. Pretty amazing.

Routine can help in smaller crises, too. (AMD may not be a walk in the park, but it is not being buried meters and meters below ground either!) People agree that routine can structure your existence. It gives you a consistent direction and you are able to act instead of constantly making decisions and new arrangements. The mental energy you save by not having to decide what happens next can be channeled into areas that it is really needed or even into doing something creative.

When you have a routine things just seem to flow one into the next, building momentum and reducing the need for willpower. Besides the article I have been quoting, Why Having a Daily Routine is Important, I also found a number of online articles that recommended routine as a way to battle depression. Why? Structure. Momentum. Not having to think about what comes next.

Routine can get you going even if getting going is the last thing you want to do.

No, I am not depressed but I would really like my routine back. I like pretty much knowing where I am going and what I will do when I get there. I don’t like having to improvise again and again when things are not running smoothly. I am flexible but prefer not to be bending over backwards or wriggling through knotholes too very often.

Having a strong set of habits and routines that I liked and wanted to get back to was helpful in February, 2016 when I lost my second eye and things went to crap for a while. Routine may help you in the same way. Worth a try.

written March 24th, 2017

Next: Reflections on 2017

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