Meaningless Meanderings

Routine

Every morning, you wake up at 5:45; 6:00 if you are feeling lazy. You set a pot of coffee to brew, and take a shower while you wait. By 6:30, you find yourself sipping a cup of coffee (with two lumps of sugar and a spoon of cream) and nibbling on a slice of toast (with real butter and a dab of strawberry jam) while watching the news and the weather on channel six. At 7:00, on the dot, you are adjusting the mirrors of your car and confirming that the lid of your travel mug certainly is closed as you pull out of your parking spot with the same hope that it will still be there.

You enter the workplace at 8:00, just barely finding a parking place in time (which almost always seems to be the second to last space in the lot). You see the same people clocking in and talking of the same subjects as they were the day before. You do your job, the same, monotonous thing that it is with the same breaks and same voices. You leave at 4:30, and do the same commute back to get home by 5:30. You make dinner, sit down and watch the television until you fall asleep to do the same the next day.

Every three days, you go to the supermarket on your way home to pick up the essentials you have run out of; bread, milk, eggs and frozen vegetables. Some days you are daring and buy ice cream or a new brand of butter, but the overall contents is the same. You do laundry every Sunday morning at the same laundromat, sitting in the same place reading the same trash magazine or talking with the people who are also there every week. On Friday nights, you meet with the same group and hit the same pub as the week before, with the same seats and drinks.

While this may seem a bit over dramatic, it still shows what occurs: a routine.

I often wonder why someone would willingly do this to themselves. Why the same place and times for the same actions, day in and out with little to no change?

Some do it for stability. If they do the same thing, there won't be anything new or scary. The same group of friends brings security and familiarity, where nothing will transform into the frightening thing known as change. The same building means a comfort zone; you know all the flaws and see past them, along with the exits in an emergency. The same job means that you won't need to change your lifestyle.

Others do it to forget. You used to walk a mile along the same road with your significant other until they passed away in a car accident, yet you still do it now because it feels “right.” You force familiar things around yourself to forget about the death of a family member, or do the same monotonous job to forget about that girl who broke up with you.

Even more do it out of necessity. Work and school can't be altered, and you suddenly find yourself falling into a routine. You have to wake up at this time to shower and have breakfast in order to leave at this time to make it to your location without being late. This is where I tend to fall as a student, and I seldom enjoy it.

As I walk to and from my classes or work (times depending on the day and season), I often see the same things. The same people at the gym, the same workers at the various shops. The same man in the same truck in front of the same store. The same red Mazda Miata or silver Ford Taurus, driven by the same people on the same street at the same time every day. If I desired, it is almost as if I could set my watch by it.

But every time, I wonder why they are doing it. Are they doing it to support a family? In hopes of becoming a better person through an education? What is it they are running from?

At this point, I usually stop to ask myself “Am I any better? Is this what I should expect?” I turn a random corner and walk down another street to break the monotony of my walk, but I can only do this so many times until I run out of streets. Eventually, it seems every one of us will fall into a routine of some sort, whether to forget, in remembrance, in hopes, or just because its the only way to go.

But is this such a bad thing?