Is there freedom in routine?

FREEDOM IN ROUTINE - Sounds like a paradox, right?

I used to call myself a “freedom seeker” when people asked why we relocated our young family from one side of the country to the other to start an organic farm when we had no idea (NO IDEA!) what we were doing.

Organic farm? Can’t be that hard, right? 

A freedom seeker. That’s what it felt like to me – seeking the freedom to live in the wide open spaces - where I felt free.

I am a freedom seeker.

I want to have the freedom to choose.

To have options on how I get to live.

A choice in what I do each day.

I think most of us want that, am I right?

I see so many people resisting routine in their life, becasue routine is considered restrictive, boring, not-free.

People want so much freedom that they “want to go with the flow” or “feel into” their day rather than have schedule or routine.

That approach may make you feel like you are free, but chances are there is a lot of time wasted on making decisions. Because when you avoid routine you essentially set yourself up to have to make all the small decisions, over and over.

Should I brush my teeth or sit and read a book?
Should I get up at 7am or when my body wakes?
Should I go through my emails or write a post?
Should I scratch my bum or….

You get the drift.

Subjecting all decisions to a desire of wanting "flow" and spontaneity can (and will) lead to intuition or decision fatigue.

Asking yourself, or your intuition, to decide on all the decisions you must make in a day is exhausting.

Setting up routine around the basic things, the things you have to do daily, will bring you more freedom. Paradox or not, it is true.

So what to do?

Set routine around the basic things, the things you do daily. In ayurveda we call this Dinacharya. Dinacharya are daily habits that positively support your lifestyle, enabling a life of good health and fulfilment (it is the small things, ladies. The small things are what counts). Habits such as:

* What time you wake up.
* What time you go to bed.
* Your morning stuff, like – brushing your teeth, cleaning your face, and any kind of spiritual or YOU task, like journaling, reading, exercise, affirmations – whatever sets you up for the day.
* Meal times.
* Study or work times.

When you lock in these basic things, where the decision does not need to be made because it’s already made, you can free up intuitive space to make the other decisions. The ‘big’ decision, or the creative decisions, or the what-the-heck-am-I-doing-with-my life decisions (we all have those sometimes).

Tell me, how do you feel about routine - turned off or turned on by it? I can absolutely contest that routine is one of my favourite things.