Monday Memos....Routine vs Life

The less routine, the more life!

-Amos Bronson Alcott

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Ahh...here we are again...

that word..

that stinky little 7 letter word that sometimes eclipses the wonders of that 4 letter word.

I don't mean to let it slip in and take over, let it sometimes suck the fun out of a good 4 letter word; but gosh darn it - it can.

It creeps in when I sit down to plan out dinners, when I look at a football schedule and try to decide how to time everything just right; it walks into my bedroom every morning at 7:20 and works diligently to point me in the correct direction...

but alas...those 7 letters are a formidable opponent but the 4 in the opposite corner win out every time:

Routine vs. Life

Who knew that between the little ticks on a daily planner that life can swoop in and create an inky mess or wonderful escape?

Routine can be perfect for one matter and ridiculous for another. We talk of balance, of time management, of school schedules and work shenanigans all the while forgetting that each routine must have life within it...Life wins out, even when the routine seems perfectly patterned for success. That little bump, that hitch in your time management - it isn't exactly a bad thing; actually it is probably just what you needed to remember that Life isn't routine. It is not set in stone within the squares of a DayTimer. It is messy, unforgiving, relentless, exciting, dramatic, tiring, busy, surprising, heroic, fatal, mysterious, romantic, shocking, hilarious, sad and dangerous.

It is all the elements we seek when wandering a bookstore - granted even a book store attempts to control routine, yet we all know that genre divisions can be misleading and often overlap. They segregate the books into genre, theme, author, style - forgetting that if its good, if its worth the time to read it, to enjoy it, to relish it...well, we don't mind which piece of life is in it - so long as the life is there when we turn the page....

So work on your projects, let the hitches come, let the routine slip a little, let the day planner have a blank square...because I promise if you were to flip back through it and think about that day you will remember: not a blank day with no activity but a day full of the routines of life - after all Life always wins... ;o)

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For me today...my daily match with Life can be found in these blogs as well...

Tina Lynn asks if you also struggle to find a new VOICE...

Dear Lord! I could pass out - James Dashner graciously gives us an update on book 3 in THE MAZE RUNNER trilogy and lets us see a snippet of the SCORCH TRIALS!! I may faint from excitement...

Lola's preaching to my writing choir today and well...my choir needs to be sure to keep showing me their talent...(though telling me appears to be their favorite method) - oh the agony of realizing I tell too much... ;o)

DL has a wonderful post discussing his 'budget' that can in many ways relate to Routine vs Life - those that's and then's we encounter while writing our beloved manuscripts...

Enjoy your Marvelous Monday...I hope its full of Life... ;o)