Wednesday 7 April 2021

Routines

Ah routine - does it govern your life or have  you  thrown it to the winds?   In our working lives there has to be a routing - get up. breakfast, go to work, leave work, come home, and so on.   But I am thinking more about once retirement arrives.   You may think as the date for your retirement nears that one of the pluses is that you can dispense with ,set your own pattern of life.   I can tell you that, as far as I am concerned, it is easier said than done.  The farmer is a perfect example.   Even before he started school in 1948 he had a number of barns he visited early in the morning to bring in (in Winter )the few milking cows who had spent the night there, ready for milking at six thirty in the morning (all weather).

He usually arrived late for school (after a walk of two miles) and by half past nine (according to his teacher who I knew much later on) was often asleep before ten in the morning.   He ended up a very practical man who could turn his hand to anything.   He never read a book in his life as far as I am aware  but he read the weekly Farmers' Weekly cover to cover and his mathematical ability was amazing when it came to anything to do with his machines - which he always mended himself.

When he retired he let off most of his land and just kept a few beast which he fattened and sold each year around Christmas.   Once the milking herd had gone he could have had a lie in in the mornings - did he?   Of course not.  Half past five out of bed, downstairs to make us both a cup of tea and then back downstairs dressed and ready to go round the fields with the dogs.

And the dogs had a routine too - standing by the door 'dead on the dot', eyes firmly fixed on his face.   And in the days when we had a milking herd, when he walked to the field in summer to fetch them in for milking they would be standing patiently by the field gate waiting for him to open it.

I still have a routine now that I live alone - carer comes at seven thirty for an hour - I am up, blinds drawn back, central heating turned up- only once since she has been coming have I slept in, to be wakened by her coming in my bedroom door at half past seven and frightening the life out of me.

Is routine like this a good idea do you think?   I know that in most jobs it is pretty essential but we could easily relax on retirement but few of us do.  How do you cope if you are retired, or if you work from home - many people have done this during Covid lockdown - I wonder if they have stuck to routine or have they relaxed into none?   I would love to know how you plan your life these days.

32 comments:

Northriding said...

I've been working from home for over a year, and stick rigidly to working hours - 8.30 in my office (my kitchen table which has to hold a laptop, a second large screen, a docking station and keyboard). I have an hours break usually between one and two, and then log off at 5pm. I always make sure I'm dressed and tidy as we have a lot of meetings on Teams and Zoom. Instead of treating it like home I have been treating it like work. It's difficult to get much exercise so I have been walking up and down my stairs for ten minutes at a time three times a day. To cope with working at home I very much need a structure. However, I am hoping to retire at the end of the year when I can claim my state pension and work pension and I'm not sure how long that structure will stay in place once I don't have to work.

Dc said...

We still get up with an alarm at 07:30, except food shopping day, 07:00. I could lie in occasionally but don’t bother as when the dog is let out, she sounds like a herd of elephants on the gravel.

gmv said...

Routines have a comfortable rhythm to them for me. Now that my husband and I are retired and no longer have to punch a time card we have fallen into an easy routine. He is up by 6 am and has a coffee downstairs. He sets up my coffee cup, cream and piece of coffee bread on the kitchen counter ready for me when I come downstairs at 7:30. Breakfast is shortly after then we each have our self assigned chores inside and outside. During this season of spring into summer it is all about gardening and maintaining the fruit and nut trees here on our 2 1/2 acres. We quit by 1 pm and have a snack and rest. I like to read my blogs and watch youtube videos and he snoozes. Of course in between there are trips to the market, making up checks to mail out, writing letters and other things.

Dinner is always thoughtfully planned out and cooked by me. Hubby does the dishes afterwards. We have a very large library of DVDs (over 700) and choose one to watch during dinner. We are happy to have our pleasures at home and seldom go out. We did make a trip from California to Georgia to spend Christmas with our son and his family. Best trip ever! Our daughter and her husband and their puppy came with us and the entire family had the most wonderful time together.

So that is our life routine in a nutshell.

Rachel Phillips said...

Routine is good for wellbeing, health and most importantly, for sleep.

EM Griffith said...

My husband and oldest son have been working from home for 12-1/2 months. We fell into a routine by the second day and stick to it almost religiously. Including when they come down the stairs for coffee refills, then head right back to their work stations. Lunch within a half hour window. After work walks every other evening, weather permitting. In fact, they got me back to regular routines; I found myself retired early (not by choice) a few years ago and found myself at loose ends. An uncomfortable feeling. Humans are designed for at least loose structure, don't you think?

JayCee said...

After 43 years of working I was ready for my retirement. I was finding it more of a struggle to get up at 6:45 a.m. for the drive into town for work and my concentration was diminishing. Now that we are both retired we have fallen into a routine, albeit a very gentle one. Now we don't get up until 8:30 a.m. We plan our days around tasks we need to accomplish and somehow meals seem to have more prominence in our day. Hopefully once our lockdown is lifted we can factor in more treats, like coffee or lunch out and meeting friends, but until then it is eat, sleep, repeat.

Bonnie said...

I've always thought that you have a very good routine and that must make things easier for you. When I was working I had to have a strict routine to work full time as well as take care of family, meals and house. When we retired we loosened our routine a bit and that was nice at first. After the pandemic started we fell into a much looser routine and that is not good for I don't get as much accomplished. I am now trying to get back into a much better routine that I know will be healthier. My biggest problem is that I have always been a night owl and if I am up very late I end up sleeping later. I'm trying to change that!

Debby said...

Like everyone else, it seems, I have a routine. It is not engraved in granite. I can make changes as needed. But it keeps me on track.

Derek Faulkner said...

Routine is very much a part of my life and when I retired I simply created new routines and have rarely deviate from them. As a farmer's wife you will know that animals live by routine - cows know when it's milking time twice a day, dogs know when it's walking and feeding time and we are know different.
Your blog today was a perfect and well written example of what you could write in the form of a series of postings about your lifetime, they would be so interesting and would entertain and absorb you by writing them. I did a similar thing for the local facebook Sheppey History forum here, one through my childhood, one through early adult life and one in later adult life.

Lynn said...

No, not much routine in retirement here!

Sue said...

I have always found routine comforting. Our neighbour says he can set his clock by me walking the dog every morning.

Heather said...

I do have a routine of sorts, but it tends to be a little flexible at times! I think having one makes life simpler. Having said that, now that I live alone I am not above disregarding my routine if I feel like it.

Beverley said...

I had a very varied routine for years when I was an ITU nurse. Shifts varied , early was 07.30 to 14.15. Lates were 13.45 to 21.15. Nights were 20.45 to 0800.
Sometimes I did long days from 07.30 to 21.15.
My sleep pattern was all over the place, and eventually at 55 I retired.
Now I have a part time job with the National Trust and work 10.00 to 1700. I absolutely love it. These days there is so much more sleep and a routine of sorts.

Tasker Dunham said...

what a lovely rural rhythm you describe, part of nature

Terra said...

The Farmer had a good routine even in retirement and I like how the dogs were ready and waiting each day on time. I have routines and yet each day is different, does that make sense? I usually have something to do each day, zoom meetings, church on Sunday (in person in church for Easter, hurray), and leave home now most days to do something, now that I have two vax done.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I do agree with Rachel about how important routine is for our general health and well being. It did strike me when I broke my hip last September and spent three weeks in hospital how difficult it must be for nurses is hospitals to get into routine when their shifts vary so much both in length and time of day.

The bike shed said...

Routine and rut are very different things: the former is good, the latter detrimental. The discipline (or perhaps better, the practice) of routine can have meaning too - as in for example saying grace before meals. Writers need a routine to complete their work - your blog is a wonderful example of routine and what it can achieve. Without routine, at least at some level, I think we are a little all at sea.

am said...

You and all the commenters have given me much to think about this evening. My parents were both routine oriented, and I faithfully followed routines from an early age and throughout my working and retired life until this past June when my 14-year-old cat died. Oboe made sure that I followed the daily routines we set up when I first brought her home from the shelter. The routines began when she woke up in the early morning until it was time to brush her in the evenings. At the same time each evening, she would sit down on a small rug near the front door and wait for me to brush her. I miss her.

I have been retired since 2017, and although I still wake up very early in the morning, my days are relatively flexible. I eat three times a day when I am hungry, rather than at set times. I do the things I need to do and want to do when I feel like it, rather than on a schedule as I once did. Somehow, everything gets done, and there is time to relax. I used to always do yoga in the early morning but now I find I can do yoga before going to sleep at night sometimes. I walk at different times. I do meet with friends on Zoom at the same time in the morning every day (-:

Susan said...

Keeping a good routine is best. That is, a routine that accomplishes tasks and goals. As a type A person, routine and goals are key for me. I can not imagine having no routine and goals.

Red said...

For some things I have a rigid routine and others it's chaotic. I do not finish things and then I have to go back later and finish a job.

Cro Magnon said...

I live by routine too. I get-up at the same time every day (5am), eat meals at the same time, in fact I do everything like clockwork. I think it keeps me sane.

Librarian said...

Like almost everybody here has said, routine is not a bad thing, and I find comfort in it. But every now and then, I enjoy breaking it up - such as when I am on holiday, or for a special occasion like my birthday.
It's all in the balance, isn't it!
Working exclusively from home now for more than a year has still kept me firmly in a routine - my clients make sure of that, with a tight schedule of phone/video conferences most days. I am always dressed properly etc. by the time I switch my work computers on (one from "my" company, the other one from my biggest client), never work in my PJs or without having had a shower first.

thelma said...

I think it is a question of health as well. The body has its own instinctive routines, when to eat, when to sleep and we obey. Our work habits fit into that. In the good old days people fetched the cows in to milk, though the cows also have their routine as well. The diurnal rhythm I suppose....

CharlotteP said...

We do need a rhythm to our lives...but as Librarian says, we need holidays and occasions to break it up, perhaps it's not good to be on automatic pilot all the time. Times to take stock and see if there might be ways to improve the way we do things.

Tom Stephenson said...

Routines are comforting most of the time, but it's nice to break them too. I would not appreciate being brought a cup of tea at 5.30 in the morning.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Tom - you would if you had to get up at 6 to feed the calves.
Cro You have a point there - I rather think I am the same.
Bike shed Now I am in my eighties it would be easy to sit all day and do nothing but Mind Games, Blog and walk do definitely keep me sane.

Thanks for commenting folks - your comments made such interesting reading.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Since leaving work I don't have routines any more. I do things when I feel like it - which, as it happens, is often the same time every day!

Jules said...

I enjoy the comforting rhythm of a routine. I think most of us benefit from a certain amount of structure to our day. X

Ellen D. said...

Not having a routine was one of the things that bothered me when I retired. I have struggled to figure out when to be productive and when to be lazy. But I really have not been able to set a satisfactory balance yet!

Emmbee said...

OK! I’m in a minority here! After a lifetime of living by the bell, I choose to NOT have a routine!
I sleep!
I eat!
I play!.....Quilting, crochet, & recently some gardening.
I care for my grandson 1 day per week.......the only routine I have.
Everything else happens whenever!
Loooove my retirement!

Lynn said...

I'm with Emmbee, I love retirement, I love no routine.

Jane said...

I'm with Emmbee too. Retired and no routine and I love it. I was glad to retire and the freedom is amazing! I've been retired for a few years and am still enthralled by it. Just brilliant! I see my neighbours going off to work and think how fortunate I am to have all the hours in my day to suit myself. I never ever get bored. I had enough routine when I was working, like a hamster going round in a wheel, I'm free of the wheel now and it's wonderful.
Anyone who says we need routine is completely wrong - why do we need to run round in that hamster wheel - freedom is great!
For anyone stuck in a routine just try breaking free from it - it's so liberating.