Don’t Let Routine Get You Down

Hello World!

I’m coming to you today from a new blog. While it’s not my first time blogging, it is my first time on this blog so greetings & my name is Caroline! I guess you could say I got tired of trying to blog about what I thought people wanted to read, and wanted to spend my time writing about things that I actually feel passionate about – seems obvious, but sometimes just doing you can take a little extra courage.

So today, I want to start of my blog writing about a message that I came across about a month ago and has stuck with me ever since. One I want to share with you, because I think it will really leave you navigating away from this post feeling more hopeful and more positive about whatever it is that’s making you drag your feet.

I want to talk about monotony. The monotony of every day routine. The monotony of doing whatever it is that you do everyday that is starting to make you feel like you just can’t keep doing this, or is making you think, how long am I supposed to do this same old thing? Maybe it’s sitting at a desk and working every day, maybe it’s going to classes and studying, maybe it’s driving your kids around all day, or maybe it’s dealing with the same people that you deal with everyday. Whatever it may be, monotony can tend to make us feel hopeless and can make small feats feel bigger.

While I’ve figured out that I can’t seem to change these routine things that I’m faced with everyday, I can choose the way that I look at them . That sounds cliche, but really, what if we looked at monotony as more of a journey. It’s easy to get frustrated doing the same old thing, but I know speaking from my own experience, it seems that every time I’ve done something monotonous, it has led me to some kind of success, whether that be a graduation, a promotion, something as simple as a new friend, or a new opportunity that came my way. I know that I can look back at my life and it seems like it’s written in chapters. If yours feels that way too, what’s to say that what’s routine in your life right now isn’t just another chapter? We can only really make assumptions based on the past, and if the past is a bunch of chapter stitched together, then this is probably another chapter for you. It’s the right now, but it’s not necessarily forever.

I think it’s easy to not want to do our best when we’re doing something that feels average or discouraging. I’ll keep using the example of a job, because I feel like it’s something a lot of people can relate to. Many times, I’ve heard people having trouble doing their best work and putting their all into a job that they don’t feel they’re passionate about, or that they don’t think utilizes their full potential. I think the best way to deal with this kind of thing is to use all your willpower to put as much passion and effort into this job as you can so that it can lead you into an even better place.

People that are great probably never said, oh I’ll be passionate and do my best once I’m great. If they did that, they would have never gotten to where they have gotten. Instead, they probably pushed through and did their best when things were mediocre, so that they could it could lead them to where they are now.

We could take a famous singer, for example. I imagine that people with great singing abilities (unfortunately not myself) would want to get out on stage right away. Instead, many singers have to spend time singing at bars, maybe even behind their computer on a Youtube channel for years and years before one day, something happens, and they are onto the next step of their life.

While I have always despised the boring kind of monotony that I don’t think anyone can escape, I must say that it has definitely taught me patience. It has definitely taught me that you have to make the most out of where you are right now in order to get where you’re going. And if you’re really unhappy and you just need something different in your life that’s not your same old boring routine, then maybe it’s time to sit down and think about what makes you happy. Perhaps there’s something you can add in your life that will make you happy each day, despite the routine that is unavoidable. Whether it’s taking Zumba classes, spending time drawing, or meeting a friend on a Wednesday for dinner, spicing up your routine may not take away your routine, but it might help change the tone your week.

So I’ll end my post by saying, try not to get discouraged. Monotony and routine teach you patience. They build your character. & no one ever became extraordinary, without first being ordinary.

XO,

sweetcaroline