Routine

I may have spoken about routine before but I am going to address it again now. Routine is important to people of all ages starting from our childhood and probably getting more important as we get older. It is how we stay in the big, fat middle of our comfort zone.

I used to be a teacher. For around three and a half years I taught various grades in various places. My first year I taught a grade 2/3 class in the Nass River Valley in northern BC. My second year I taught Special Education at the T School in Alert Bay. My third year was spent as a supply teacher with KPR board in Ontario and my last year (actually it was a half year) I spent teaching high school back in the Nass. I also taught some Anthropology seminars when I was in grade school.

As a teacher I quickly discovered how important routine was to keeping things peaceful. Kids who are pulled out of their routines get cranky and are hard to handle. So every day I taught the same basic schedule with the only real difference being the actual material covered within the schedule. It was during this same time period that I made the discovery that adults cling to their routine just as religiously and that they get just as cranky as their kids when they are pulled from it. It didn't take long after that to realize that I am a cranky bugger when I am pulled from my preferred routines as well.

I have a pretty good idea why being pulled from our routine makes we the human species edgy. I think it has to do with a repressed fear of the unknown. Rather than being able to float along with our thoughts basically our own we now have to be on guard. When we focus on having to react it increases our blood pressure and hence our level of stress. Routine is calming as we can float along with our sensors on low alert.

For me personally there is also the issue of missing things that may be important later. As an example when I empty my pockets before bed I organize the contents in a particular order on my desk so that I don't forget anything. The contents of my pockets tend to be the same. I currently carry in my right front pocket my nail clippers, a chap stick for my lips and a Bic lighter. This is obviously part of my routine as I quit smoking a while ago and so have no need for the lighter. I used to carry a Swiss Army knife as well but since having the third one taken from me at customs I have ceased doing so. But several times a day I will reach for that knife and then realize 'Shit, I don't have one any more!' Hard to relieve that I stopped carrying one over a year ago and I still do that!

I find when staying at Kearl lake and Wapasu camp especially it takes only about 24 hours to establish your basic routine for your day. It only takes that long because we are never put back in to the same rooms and almost never in the same wing or even camp. My first stay for instance was in the main camp in a wing close to the front. I got up, had breakfast, filled my lunch bag, went back to my room, changed and headed to the bus lines where I met the same friends. My second turn I was also in main camp but was further away so I started missing every second breakfast and instead grabbed extra in the lunch room which I ate while dressing. My third turnaround I was in East camp so far from the dining hall that I skipped breakfast and supper and instead grabbed more from the bag up lunch room.

The most important part of my routine is calling my wife at night. There is a 2 hour time difference and I go to bed around 8pm. So I try to call her at 7:30. We changed our work schedule now so we get home a little earlier giving me more flexibility and more potential to make the dining hall or to get laundry in. But the call and the bed time drive everything else. I guess that's because lack of sleep is another thing that like routine can make me cranky and irritable.