The Merits Of Routine

As I wrote that title, the vision of an old Indian man, wise and learned and verbose came to mind. One who would simply write advice for the sake of writing advice to pass on to others. Something that had to be done to improve lives. Goodness. I laughed a little too.

Anyway, despite me ageing rapidly and turning uncle before my time (I hope), I must exhort the benefits of routine. Seriously, a lot of our lives would be simpler and better with a fixed set of actions followed. For example, we have always heard of the need to commit to exercise. Often as we get caught up with work, we cast aside the need to sweat it out and get the heart pumping from physical activity rather than stress. If we worked out a short while everyday, just like Oprah's Dr Oz recommends 30 minutes of walking daily, we'd be better off to tackle our work related stresses and combat illness. Fine, maybe not everyday, but something 2-3 times a week is undeniably good for you. Change can only come with consistent effort, not a sudden workout followed by a week of pigging out. Consistency begets results.

Next example, cleaning the house. My sis has a 1400sqft home. She tends to clean it on Saturdays and the end of the afternoon she's bushed and complaining. Then I would say, "why don't do a little everyday?" Try half an hour of cleaning a day to make the Saturday less of a pain. I wash the loo I use often every Sunday morning. It's a habit now of sorts. It's a routine that makes sense to me.

Last example, flossing. I don't floss everyday. I did for period when I followed the Dexter series on cable TV. In the super opening sequence of each episode there are amazing closeups of stuff Dexter does in the morning made to look poignantly murderous. There's him shaving and cutting himself, blood in drops on white porcelain; bacon deftly sliced and seared; coffee beans mercilessly being ground in a slow mo spin; and he flosses. So this ardent fan flossed after breakfast too, for a while. Now I floss once a week on Sundays before bed. I think it is necessarily enough to weed out the week's filth from the teeth.

Last last example (I promise), I take a supplements. I know everyone does. Hossan Leong on the morning radio show on Gold 90FM says he takes 10 pills a day. I think that's mad. I take an Omega 3 pill each day; Glucosamine on Mondays and Thursdays; Centrum multivitamins on Tuesdays and Fridays; Brands essence of chicken, a bottle, on one of the weekend days. That's my programme. It sounds like I'm a hypochondriac, maybe a little but I am sure a little bit each day goes a long way in the end. "Sikit sikit, lama jadi bukit" goes a Malay saying and we tend to forget to apply that to more of life than we imagine. Both positive, like saving cents a day and negative, like not clearing your Inbox (I have 300 emails in that mess).

I know it sounds like nagging but think about it a little before condemning it to the trash can of the mind. There is room to breakout of routine but some things we just gotta keep in steady rhythm. There are cycles all around us - the days and nights; the convulted loop that takes us from home to work to home; the bills we have to pay at the about the same time each month. Routine keeps us sane. And applying that sanity to benefit one's health or time management is doable. Try, it works, says this old man.