Quick Tales: Embrace The ‘Boring’ Routine
It’s very easy to get bored with the repetitiveness of life. We always think there should be some superhero moment or a fortuitous event that will alter the course of history. Why wouldn’t we? We’ve seen it in the movies. We saw how these things should work. So, why, in all seriousness, do we need to suffer the mundane, abysmal routine of life?
ADVENTURE
I’ve always set my eyes on a fulfilling, adventurous life. I’ve always sought exciting activities. So, when a day gets to be a little bit boring, I would find a way to make it fire up.
Last week, I find myself getting frustrated out of nothing. Then, I realized I was a little bit exasperated of the routine I’ve had for the past two weeks. I began to wonder how I could change my life so I would not feel this way. I have always believed that we, ourselves, are the key to our own happiness.
So, as I scour my way to entertaining myself, but even after binge-watching the entire Archer series, I was still left unsatisfied. Why?
It’s because I learned that I did not need some mind-numbing adventure everyday, I have to keep up with my lost, monotonous routine.
SUBTLE INDIVIDUALITY
Before this happy, personal event happened, the type of event that you would want to celebrate for the next 3 months…like a birthday, I used to have a pretty strict morning routine.
I would wake up really early, get a black coffee, fire up my exercise, read, meditate, write and cook breakfast. Then, the day takes me where I needed to go.
However, life has ups and downs. There are days when I do not feel like following this routine. Sometimes, I’m just too tired. So, even though I have kept the consistency of this awesome routine that has kept my mind, body and spirit healthy, there are days and weeks that I fall through.
But, this is where I got things wrong.
I was looking for “a way out” of this tedious, day-to-day activities that, for me, does not change the world when I could have simply followed through to see the change I wanted to see.
THE ANSWER
They say you need to do an activity for 10,000 hours to master it. In my life, I can say I mastered a couple of things by doing them repetitively. I learned to study rigorously by training myself to read even though the other kids in the class were partying and slacking off.
I have become a better communicator because I have poured in hours of practicing in the mirror, listening to coaches and learning from the very best. I learned how to become a better writer by attributing more than a decade of my life to the craft.
You see, the awards, the accolades, the “prize,” seem to become these outstanding summits you achieve. These seem to be the memorable moments in life that deserve a place on the wall — or a golden medal for others. But, what made me (or you) reach these heights, what I have to thank for, are the ordinary, unexciting, and seemingly unremarkable days of my life.
So, whenever you see yourself getting “tired” and “bored” of these uneventful daily routines, remember that you are banking for something bigger.
With that, I’ll leave you a quote from Paulo Coelho:
“Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up. It’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.”
