The mundane habits of life. That’s what’s on my mind this evening. We all have them. Just little things we do to get us through the day to accomplish everyday tasks in life. Things we don’t really think about too often. What triggered this thought for me was my shoes. I took them off and there they are sitting on the floor. I have two pair of shoes that I wear. I have feet that are hard to fit so I get the same ones all the time. They’re size eight and a half 3x extra wide Rockports. I have a brown pair and a black pair.
I switch between the shoes every morning. I usually have one pair in the closet inside the shoebox they came in and one pair on my feet. Or at the foot of my drawing table where I leave them for the night. When I wake up in the morning and get dress I go to the closet, get out the box my shoes are in, takes out today’s shoes, put yesterday’s shoes in the box, and then put on today’s shoes. I do this almost every morning. It’s kind of a Mr. Rogers moment. Then there are some mornings when I say “I’m tired of this routine” and put on yesterday’s shoes.
Another routine that popped into my head was laundry. First off I’m lucky enough to live in a house with a washer and dryer. If you’ve ever lived in a place that doesn’t have those then laundry is a real chore. Having to go to a Laundromat ups the laundry ante by about a factor of fifty. But even though it’s less of a chore for me to do laundry it’s still a routine. But it’s one I surprisingly resist turning into a routine. I don’t know why but I don’t like to do my laundry on the same day every week. I easily could pick a day and just do my wash on that day but that bothers me. So I do it on a Friday this week and then a Saturday or Sunday the next week. I actually did it on a Tuesday this week. For some reason I resist routine when it comes to laundry. Strange.
Another of my mundane habits is flossing my teeth. That thing that dentists always tell you to do. I found it a hard thing to make a habit of until I changed the time I did it. I’m fine with brushing my teeth and do that many times a day but flossing was a little tougher. It didn’t help that my teeth are pretty close together and it was hard to get the floss in between then until I learned about a flat floss that was easier to use. I always tried to floss after I brushed my teeth before bedtime but couldn’t seem to do it consistently. It was late and I was tired. I switched my flossing time to after my after diner brushing and I seemed to have a lot more energy then. So that’s now my habit.
My exercise habit is, of course, my bike riding. I go five days a week taking off Monday and Thursday. There was a while there that the habit was so strong that I didn’t miss more than a single day for three years. That is I never went three days without a ride. Even all through the winter. That streak ended when I caught a flu or something and couldn’t ride for a week. Plus there was the really bad weather two winters ago where I also think I couldn’t ride for a week. Though I still don’t miss many days I don’t sweat it if I miss three days in a row. I know I’ll ride again as soon as I can. The habit is strong.
My other exercise habits are a lot more fragile though. I’ve gone through various routines over the years and they all seem to fade away after a while. One that I started recently and want to get back too is stretching. Y’see I was starting to get really stiff in the legs even with bike riding to loosen me up. I went onto the internet, looked up some basic stretches, and put together my own routine. I mixed in some pushups too. I kept it up nearly every day for about two months. I enjoyed it too. The I came down with another flu or some such and by the time I was better I just couldn’t get back to my stretching habit. I don’t know why. My legs weren’t as stiff as they used to be but I gotta figure they won’t stay loose forever. I need to start stretching again. If only I could get my routine back.
When it comes to my artwork I haven’t had many mundane routines except one. I have to get some work done. That’s the key. Doing something. There are times when I’m not at my best and don’t have a lot of energy or concentration. That doesn’t matter. I still have to get something done. Even if it’s not a big something I try to get a small something done. I work on some early stages of some drawings or I have a bunch of almost finished drawing laying around waiting for me to ink them. There is a lot of reacting in my inking as opposed to acting and sometimes that’s an easier thing to do when concentration is at a premium. I always have my ink book drawing to work in too. Sometimes it’s just the thing on a morning where I can’t seem to get anything started. I open up my ink book, draw a little box, clear my mind, and start drawing something where I have no idea how it will come out.
Oh yeah, and my socks. I wear to different color socks. A black sock and a white socks. To me this is just another mundane habit but to other people it seems to be a big deal. The world is a strange place.
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