Stepping Back

Disclaimer: This post deviates away from my usual content of celebs, food and animals!
1 month into a new job and I'm back in a routine of packing lunches and early bedtimes. Sitting here on a Saturday afternoon sipping Diet Pepsi with lemon decompressing from a hectic work week, makes me think about my perception of routines and balance. As I was heading out of the office last night, my boss and a very high up "coworker" asked me what my plans for the weekend were. I responded something along the lines of "Oh, I'm just going to try and be productive." (My brain felt like silly putty ok? I was hardly able to form words) Then they started lamenting about how sad it is that we have to use our weekends to do laundrey and all, but at least you have something to show for your work. Hey if you're in the advertising or marketing industry, you know where they're coming from.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with this, well I've been reading a lot of stuff here and there that talks about not slipping into the mundane. Like this blog post from Buckhead Church talks about taking a step back to see your daily routine from a different perspective, how even a small change can bring about something you might not ever have expected. I read a great excerpt in My Upmost for His Highest the other night that said it's not during the huge life altering events that we grow, but in the ordinary. The big stuff is where we show what we're made of. And even in Real Simple magazine I came across an article on how to maximize your leisure time, not just using it to lay catatonic in front of the TV (which I've been known to do on occasion).

My life has undergone a lot of changes over the past year - moving to a city that had a friend population of 0 at the time, moving multiple times once I got here, buying my first home, living financially on my own for the first time ever, working at a job I had no experience in, getting laid off from that job, entering the scary world of unemployment, then getting a new job pretty quickly - Whew! But you know I hardly ever stop for 2 seconds and reflect on it all. And duh of course moving and switching jobs would be big deals for anybody, but the smaller stuff in between has been just as if not more impactful for me ... Starting yoga and pilates has changed the way I exercise and spend some of my free time ... Living in a big city by myself has changed the way I eat and shop (not sure if that's been a good thing) ... Finding balance in maintaining old friendships with meeting new people, and this has lead me to evaluate which friends are meant to still be in my life ... Even blogging! While ridiculous most of the time, it's something I never would have done before moving.

Hopefully I can learn how to have a healthy, balanced and not too entrenched routine in place, but if not I'll just have to keep blogging about it :)