Routine Maintenance

I am a creature of habit. I’m someone who loves a routine in theory. I’m a card-carrying member of the “rule-followers” club. And in some ways, that has served me incredibly well. But right now? It has me really freaking bored. So bored, in fact, that this was my google search bar about a week ago:

And before we go too far down this path, let me just say that I know I’m really lucky. I have a good job, a nice place to live, good friends, a supportive family. But I’m still bored. And I’m fully aware that this is a privileged problem to have. I’m so lucky to have all of my needs met such that I can be bored. But knowing that and feeling grateful that my problem is of the extreme #firstworldproblem variety doesn’t actually change how I’m feeling. Not really.

So I keep thinking that to fix it, I have to do something big. I just saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and I started wondering if maybe I should WTF my life. Because honestly? Asking “What Would Tina Fey Do?” isn’t the worst way to live your life. And the real Kim Baker did get a book deal and a movie out of the whole thing so…#winning?

Except that I’m way too scared to make a change that big (and I’m not sure it would be that smart either). I don’t think I want to move to another city, upend my career, go to graduate school, or any of the bigger changes I’ve thought about. At least not yet. Because I might be exactly where I want to be in a lot of ways and I don’t want to rock that boat without carefully exploring it first.

What I need to do is find the small things I can change. Shake up my routine. Do a little “routine maintenance” if you will. Try things that scare me in safer ways to start pushing myself out of my comfort zone. But, like, in a gentle way. Not in a “Fly or die, baby bird! Get out of this nest!” kind of way.

So I’ve started making a list of things I can do in an hour, a day, or a weekend to entertain myself or learn something new or just tiptoe out of my comfort zone. And I’m going to chronicle it here. Mostly for me, because I need the motivation to keep up with it. But obviously also for anyone who is interested (because why else would I make it public?). I mean, I’m on the edge of the millennial generation so I do (sort of) comply with the “if you don’t chronicle it online, did it really happen?” mentality.

So here goes. Watch out, routine. You’re about to get some serious maintenance.