I can’t explain it, but I’ve always wanted it, a regimen, a routine that I can follow and live out daily.
This past year especially, I’ve longed to live a healthy lifestyle; one where I could get an apt amount of sleep each night, eat three nutritious meals (with the addition of lots of coffee and snacks), exercise regularly, shower at the start of the day (as opposed to 3 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning), actually make it all the way through a book, have some sort of creative outlet, and get out of the house to obtain a necessary dose of human interaction. Is that too much to ask – apparently it is.
If you have ever worked at a coffee shop you’ll know that, although the hours are flexible, they are far from normal. Being a part of this industry for the past three years (not to mention the two years prior of late night studying with only 3+ hours of sleep) has really messed with my normalcy.
There are ways to get back hours of sleep – napping and sleeping extra on days off – but still, there is really no hope of having a well-adjusted sleep routine to follow. As far as those 3 daily meals go, they really don’t. Breakfast usually happens around 6 am, lunch is most likely skipped, and dinner turns into hardcore snacking from afternoon and on into the night. And everyday-exercise is reserved for the highly-motivated humans that somehow toss out exhaustion and lack of nutrition in order to power through calorie burning.
I can go on-and-on making excuses for why I never reached my great desire of having an ideal regimen. The most true reason is that, despite the unusual schedule, I never chose to make it work. I put so much energy into trying to make it work that all I was left with was a basket full of disappointment. The task proved to be too difficult to conquer.
About once a month I’d wake up with a “go get ‘em” attitude. I’d go on a long run, make a meal from scratch, shower and get ready, maybe even sit down to read a book. I’d try so hard to make it happen that I would burn myself out. There was too much pressure on trying and not on being, so it didn’t feel possible. After a long day of trying, I’d give in to the disorder of daily life and let go of the dream.
A year later and I’m ready to do this regimen thing. Right now I work for myself (for you guys) and I get to make my own schedule for the first time in my life. Yes, I’m only 21 years young, but those short years are all I’ve known; to me they feel long. I’m blessed to have this time to make my dreams happen.