Blog
Routine Us Interruptus
by Shannon O'Regan
March 3, 2010
When I moved in with my now husband 2 1/2 years ago, it took an astonishing six weeks to get use to the commuting patterns around my new neighborhood. Even crazier, I only moved four blocks. It was befuddling to me how a local relocation impacted my ability to be on-time to nearly all appointment commitments. I never expected it. Nor did I realize the depth my travel pattern routines of the previous 11 years had become. For weeks, I felt rushed, late, frustrated and embarrassed.
We are creatures of habit. We have our routines. We have our schedules. Some trivial. Some vital (morning coffee anyone?). Some hectic. When an interruption or change occurs, we’re thrown off kilter. These side steps, while usually temporary, often last long enough to drive us bonkers.
What lies beneath the surface when these routine interruptions occur is a whispering that a timeout is order. A whisper that an opportunity is present. An invitation to take time to regroup, reconnect, reestablish, rest. In our frenzied, tightly scheduled state, we’re either not hearing it, ignoring it, or rationalizing that it doesn’t apply to us. Oh but it does. It applies to us and those around us.
I’m in the middle of an ambitious personal fitness endeavor that requires me to tightly arrange my schedule to ensure my commitment is kept. There’s little wiggle room to that schedule for the next several weeks. Wednesdays are an early morning. I commit to be out the door by 6:10 am. It’s 5:15 am, I’m lying in bed recognizing my body is feeling fatigued and sore, building the mental strength to drag my butt up and get moving, when suddenly my husband rolls over and drapes his long muscular arm over me. I always find solace in his arms. Feeling the pressure of my self-inflicted schedule I thought, “hmm, I can stay put for about 15 minutes, then I’ve got to get up.” Fifteen quickly turned to 20, while I enjoyed the snuggle, my mind was racing about my routine, beginning to feel rushed and guilty to escape such a pleasant, comforting place. Timeout, this isn’t just about me. It’s also about my husband. He reached out, wanting to be close.
He’s not working right now. It’s times like these when a timeout to connect, acknowledge our love, commitment, compassion, and patience becomes more vital than ever. There are days when one of us may need that timeout more than the other. Routine interruptus is never wasted in those moments. They strengthen our foundation.
When Alison Miller wrote about the gift of gratitude last week, I realized how grateful I am for these interruptions. They help define what’s really important. Today, it was important to lay in bed a little bit longer. I thank my husband for his routine us interruptus.
As for that fitness commitment, 9:30 am worked just fine.
“The urgent finds you; you have to find the important. Importance is not fast. It is slow. It is not superficial. It is deep. And as a result, it’s extremely powerful. When important matters go wrong, they undermine everything. When they go right, they sustain everything.” -Stewart Brand
Shannon M. O’Regan
Personal Fitness & Wellness Coach
www.smoventures.com
www.smoventures.blogspot.com
Shannon I love what you have written here. What a great recognition of how interruptions are important opportunities for us in daily life to reconnect to our foundation and what matters most in our lives. Appreciate your insight. It is actually an empowering belief I can I take on. I know when interruptions come, I can often see them as a problem that are keeping me from doing what I “have” to do. And actually, they can be a great way to reconnect to my capacity for choice and acting in great alignment with my values.
Thanks for the thoughts Shannon. I love the suggestion to ‘embrace’ the cause for the interruption. I can asctually see it as a gift to stop ever so breifly – and in that moment of pause – it allows me to recommit and be more clear and definitely more intentional about what is truly important to me in that moment.
Embrace the interruptions! Love it.