Having a daily routine: a comfort or a bore?

I like having a daily plan (chores, errands, meals), but I stay open to variations and total surprises, which there usually are.

Having a routine suits me well. An occasional “good” surprise keeps life interesting.

I love routine and get a little cranky when something disrupts it, although I don’t have it written down. Be careful with that though, if you get too much into routine, it can make you a little ocd. :)

@KNOWITALL Most of the people I know would say I’m already there. Being “off schedule” makes me feel like I’m late for everything, even when I’m not. But I’m visual – if it’s not written down, it means nothing.

@livelaughlove21 I totally get that, now if you can teach me how to get my husband to adhere to my schedule, we’re in bidness…lol

I work very weird hours so I miss having a stable routine.

I prefer to have a routine, especially in the morning. If I do things in approximately the same order, I only have to be 70% awake to get them done. At 5:00AM, that’s an important thing. Immediately after dinner, if I stick to my routine, everything gets done. If I sit on the couch for more than a half hour after dinner, I begin to entertain thoughts of not doing dishes. This leads to not sweeping the floor or cleaning the litter boxes. All of a sudden it’s a half hour before bedtime and I’m startled that nothing is done.

On the weekend, I know that there are things that need to get done, but I try to be more relaxed about them. If surprises come up, at least I have some wiggle room.

I have routine things that I do on a regular basis but do not like having to do them exactly the same way in the same order. I am more of a random person (which, incidentally, is a great band name) and take it as it comes.

We have a friend who is extremely routine obsessed; task “C” MUST follow task “B” which MUST follow task “A”. If she is unable to do task “B” after completing “A” then everything stops until it can be accomplished. There is no way she would go on and do “C” and “D” would not even be on the radar!

For instance, if she were just arising her toilet were to urinate, wash hands, wash face, brush teeth, comb hair. If one of the kids was using her facecloth , she would could not brush her teeth or comb her hair while waiting. Everything would come to a complete stop until the cloth became available and she could complete washing.

Makes it kind of hard on the rest of us when we are camping together and are trying to get moving for the day.

Comfort.

It depends. Usually, I am comforted by routine. I can be overwhelmed by rapid changes and have also been crippled by drastic changes to my daily routine (such as my winter schedule last year.)

However, sometimes my routine also makes me feel choked and suffocated. I feel an itch to get out and be spontaneous. It’s rare, but it happens.

That’s not a routine @rojo. That’s an obsession.

I inadvertently neglected to add that part of my daily routine is work. ;-)

I think having a routine can be a comfort to some extent. I could never plan my day or schedule it though. I like to go with the flow, so to speak, or just follow my mood. If I were to plan my day tomorrow today, how can I know what I feel like doing tomorrow? I hate planning and I suck at it, but I can see why it makes sense.

I wake up. I do shit. I go to bed.

I doesn’t get much more comfortably boring than that.

I like a mix of both. Serendipity is what keeps life interesting.

I like a regular routine in which to think of the extraordinary things I plan to do.

I have short term memory loss. I really benefit from following a routine.

I’m with @rojo I don not like rigid routine and I tend to do things in varying order.
Rigid scheduling is not my friend, at all. I’m a free spirited type and rigid routine irritates and depresses me. Short of say my pet care/feeding routines, but work wise and chore wise I like flexibility best. I have my little routines but I often mix them up and rarely repeat the same order.

Infact, being a fan of personality theory my type ENTP are the least likely of all the types to do things in specific order. It all gets done, just my way.
Anal, OCD types of personalities bring up my shadow murderess. lol