Moving: routines and the power of place

Our move is complete, although our “settling in” is far from done.

Turns out, 9 people have a lot of stuff.

The only thing we haven’t unpacked: the books. We need to buy a bookcase first.

My body is aching and exhausted (*except for one part) and for the last two days I’ve been having bizarre chest pains, probably a strained muscle somewhere in my back. Or front. During most of our move, the 2 year old was still recovering from the flu, meaning I was holding him in my arms or the Ergo all day long.

But I’m not complaining! I love our new home, the yard, the neighborhood. Definitely an upgrade from our previous digs.

This move has me once again thinking about the importance of the routines and habits in my life, and how they allow me to have maximum productivity with minimum wasted time and energy.

I love that.

Habits and routines sound boring and clinical, and some people eschew them. But the truth is, habits and routines let us do what we want to do in our lives instead of wasting time and energy doing what we don’t want to do. If that’s boring, I’m a card-carrying fangirl!

Link: The Psychology Of Daily Routine: 7 Reasons Why People Who Do The Same Things Each Day Tend To Be Happier Than Those Who Chase Adventure

and this:

“Routine basically gives us the mental freedom to think about what’s actually important. That way we don’t have to think about all the mundane aspects of life,”

See also the surprising power of rituals.

Walking around the house, scratching my head, wondering where my keys or computer charger are (because there isn’t “a place” for them yet) is not a particularly exciting activity.

I also take issue with the false dichotomy (usually uttered by “free spirit” types) that routines and habits are the realm of the uncreative.

Utter hogwash and bunkus! All great artists I’ve read about had routines and habits that made their creative endeavors more prolific.

Anyway. Enough about that.

I’ve also been thinking about how our immediate physical environment changes us.

We’d like to think we control our environment, but our environment probably has more effect on US.

The Power of Place: How our environment shapes our Thoughts, Emotions and Actions talks about this. I may pick it up and re-read it.

A few examples:

I won’t be ordering from Amazon Fresh anymore. Why? They don’t deliver here. Which astounds me, as this area has far more in the way of shopping and the income of this zip code is far higher than my last. (Maybe it’s just due to the location of the Amazon warehouse?)

Despite the chaos of moving, the laundry has all been done. Why? Because the washer and dryer are in the main level bathroom (and they’re both very new, high-end machines that are very quiet!), making it easy to throw a load in. Last night I folded laundry while minding little kids in the tub.

The streets around my home that lead to the main roads are hilly and winding (we’re at a higher elevation here, and are literally at the base of a small mountain), instead of the rather flat, more urban streets around our previous home. It gives me the same feeling I get when traveling in the mountains of North Georgia. Which is lovely. I feel like I’m on vacation, staying in a cabin. It’s fun.

A house almost decorates itself. Funny how much of my purchases (and sales and donations) are decided by the lay of the place. For instance:

 

The cookbook rack my husband built. It didn’t work in our previous kitchen because there was literally no place to hang it, but it’s perfect in this kitchen! It’s been in his workshop for years, but now used for its intended purpose.

I have stuff ready for Craiglist and Goodwill because they just don’t work in this house, and another list of things I need to buy (bookcases!). And we gave away a ton of stuff last weekend before moving.

My favorite grocery store is a couple of miles away, and there is a Starbucks right across the street and a children’s consignment shop a block away from both. Nice configuration!

We’re also close to a wonderful park (the parks around our old place were skeevy), a botanical garden, several nice biking/walking/hiking trails, and a mountain.

Hold the phone… I’ll actually have an OFFICE here. I didn’t think I was going to be able to manage a room of my own to write, and thought about converting a part of the master closet, or perhaps a corner of my bedroom. But neither of those is ideal.

After all, woman must have money and a room of her own to write a blog. Especially if she wants to be able to stop going to Starbucks every morning and instead save or invest that money.

My office is a large storage closet essentially, but we don’t need it for storage. I plan on building a standing desk in there. Joy!

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I am eager to get back to my normal routine.

I suppose the way to love routine is to have a life you love. To build a routine around the things that matter to you. I have. Which is why I’m eager to return to it.

How do you feel about routines and habits? Are they boring or do they maximize potential?

*p.s. The only part of my body that doesn’t hurt? My feet. I bought a pair of Unshoes minimal shoes and have been wearing them for about a week. I threw away several pairs of shoes yesterday. I’ve been living with chronic foot pain for many years, but when I wear Unshoes, my feet don’t hurt!

I’ve always wanted to take a pic like this: