There’s enough written on the need to stick to routines. We start early. Even newborns are “put” on a routine – you know to train the mind and the body to respond at certain times in preferred ways.

We glorify routines as they make goals attainable and feasible. They are the panacea for the human quest for success. I have nothing against routines and I have my own. Like finding time to write words here. Most days they are the only thing that keeps me sane. It is comforting to fall back on schedules, practices and routines to keep us moving. In fact, most of human life is spent on striving to check boxes on the routines list.

And then came the biggest curveball – COVID-19. The pandemic made us question every single of our existent routines and challenged our comfortable patterns and plans. Suddenly, the year seemed to be slipping out of our control. There was an urgency and panic as we tried to force ourselves into discovering new practices overnight. We tired to fit square pegs into circular openings and failed.

We whined and screamed till we were hoarse but there was nobody to listen to. Change is hard and we know it. Change is also constant. We knew that too and yet we fall for checkboxes and orderliness. And when change is forced on us, we lose it. I wonder why. Shouldn’t we be open to change – forced or planned? Or should change be planned?

I don’t have answers but I hope I try to be resilient enough to bounce off when my routines are ripped apart and dreams remain dreams.