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Coming into play these days is the art of undoing and remaking routine. We are lost in the madness of uncertainty, of systemic and structural collapses, both within and without. We are without our routines to which we’d affix without thought, routines that were taken for granted.
And we are now finding ourselves making, mixing, and trying-on brand new routines, as each new day brings to light another endless stream of unknowns.
It’s uncomfortable, uncertain. And, look! It’s scary! The world’s all topsy-turvey! Things that were before are not!
There is pleasure and delight in well-known routines. There is deep comfort in an old habit. We can feel an internal push against alterations, a rejection of changes. It is uncomfortable to step off your own well-beaten path.
But trodding along a well-beaten path, day in, day out, invokes a sort of forgetfulness.
Things which once were new and exciting begin to blend into the background. Our blinders come on. Nothing to the left, nothing to the right, there is only straight ahead.
We have so well practiced these repetitions, these steps-by-steps, we could do them in our sleep, and they might have gone on being automatic.
But here’s the danger in routine.
Mindless repetition. Force of habit. Our routine, unquestioned and unchallenged. We forget why and how we have done what we are doing, and just keep doing.
Every broken habit is a chance to fix another one. Every neglected routine invites a new routine to take its place. It is time to embrace that discomfort. It is time to practice new practices.
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