That is the sound of me zooming by to post a quick update before bed.
Today is (was) my husband’s birthday, and he took the day off work which means my nascent habit of writing blog posts during the baby’s morning nap has been thrown out of the window for three days running. (Does it even count as the beginnings of a habit if you’ve only managed it 2 days out of 5?) Not that I mind, at all – it’s been lovely to spend the day together! But it got me thinking a little about routines.
My baby, like most tiny humans, thrives on routine. When things are off, she gets overtired and then doesn’t sleep well. If there is a predictable pattern to events, she is noticeably happier.
As we get older though, we generally become a little better at managing the occasional change to the schedule, sudden disruptions to the routine. Not all of us are as flexible as others, of course! This all made me wonder:
How about you? Would you say you deal well with sudden changes of plan? How do you react? How much advance notice do you prefer before things get altered?
I personally don’t think I deal that well 😅 If things suddenly get changed out from under my feet I have to try quite hard to maintain and even keel. If it’s a work situation, I’ll do my best not to get flustered, but if it’s a friend who keeps changing plans on me at the last minute, I’d honestly stop hanging out with them altogether… Workplaces always say they value flexibility, and I get that to a point, but I also feel as though not messing someone around is a sign of respect. If you value me (as a person, and the work that I do), then you won’t keep chopping and changing things. Inconsistency in plans makes me feel undervalued, and I don’t particularly want to spend time with people who don’t value me! Is this too stiff and old-fashioned a way of thinking. Is it better to be more easygoing? Hmm.
And on that note, good night!
DoubleDelight : a blog, for now 
Ahh happy birthday to him!!! Hopefully you had cake 🎉🎂🎉🎂
I definitely like some amount of routine, in my life. Honestly, I try to let *myself* make last-minute plans or avoid planning altogether on occasion just because I know I can become too fixated on the routines if I don’t do that, especially when I’m by myself and have nothing that I need to do. But I do agree that if something *has* been planned, or someone tells me that a thing would happen in one way, and then everything changes at last minute… it throws me off.
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I think it depends how much of a worrier or perfectionist you are. Perfectionists need everything to be predictable, because how else can you achieve perfection. And worriers worry about things they can’t control. If you have a small person whose needs are so important, because they can’t manage on their own for five minutes, everything needs to be predictable because that makes it safe. Being dead relaxed and letting everything roll over you is fine if you have no responsibilities but you can’t manage a baby with an anything goes attitude – they’d starve or choke and always need changing. And yes, people who mess you about are saying your time doesn’t matter, like people who are always late. They value their own time and convenience more than they value your friendship. Here endothelial the first lesson. 😃😃😃
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Oof, I feel very Seen with your comments about worriers and perfectionists! It’s like you know me, or something 😂 I’m glad the fact that I have a baby justifies my constant low-grade neuroticism, haha.
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Should be endeth. Damn autocorrect. 😡😡😡
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I’m not great with changes of plans, though I cope better with cancelled plans than suddenly needing to do something or go somewhere for sure. I keep wanting to make more of a routine for myself cos I end up wasting a lot of time not having any direction, but I never quite get around to it!
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Just to be clear: The endothelium is a thin layer of single flat (squamous) cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. Endothelium is of mesodermal origin. Both blood and lymphatic capillaries are composed of a single layer of endothelial cells called a monolayer.
en.wikipedia.org
This has nothing to do with the end of the first lesson.😃
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Happy birthday to your husband!
I love routines in general but was more flexible when younger. When I got my first child, routine saved me. I could more easily anticipate his needs and we were both able to get enough sleep. I was doing my PhD while taking care of him, so if it wasn’t for routines and fixed schedules, I don’t know if it would have been possible. Luckily for me, everything in Japan is also almost 100% predictable, which can be quite boring but it has its advantages.
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Sudden changes are nobody’s friend I think… and I do kind of want advance notice (you know how early I tend to be to stuff – though I’m getting better! just max 15 minutes now unless it’s for work).
That being said, my job requires me to change routines quite often and it can be very exhausting and I don’t know whether I’ll be able to deal with it for much much longer but we’ll see.
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Max 15 minutes!! This is huge progress, I am proud of you 😂❤️
I think it’s tricky when it’s specifically part of your job to be prepared for a sudden upheaval. Relatedly, it’s one thing I really can’t stand about companies here in general – just WORKING FOR A COMPANY (at all!) means one runs the potential risk of a sudden transfer to Aomori or Fukui or wherever. Having that constant background threat hanging over you is so draining 😥
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