Second Cup: Routines are like a rose garden

Even the best schedules need some tending

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Today's tip is that routines are like rose gardens. Even
the best routines need tending from time to time, so
it is best not to expect that you can ever.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Set it and forget it. This episode is first airing
in the middle of summer, at least in the Northern Hemisphere,
and it's a time when for many of us our
routines look a little different. Sometimes that's great, and sometimes
it's more frustrating. If you had a great routine of

(00:55):
exercising after your kid got on the school bus in
the morning, now she's in a camp where you need
to drive her each day. It changes the routine. Even
if you enjoy the time with your kid, it was
probably not easy to build that exercise routine. Seeing it
disappear can make you worry if you'll ever be able

(01:18):
to take it back up again. I know I have
struggled with this. My work routines involved mostly doing focused
work when the kids are out of the house, which
they were for many hours during the school year. Not
everyone is in camp every week during the summer. And
so I have to rethink what is possible to do

(01:41):
with more people around. So it goes. I love reading
about routines and studying the routines of successful people, but
every time I read about some great routine, I have
to remember that this is just a snapshot in time.
Very few people can maintain the exact same routine every day,

(02:05):
or even five days a week for long stretches of time.
People change jobs or move to different homes. They have
new babies, or see babies grow up and graduate, kids
change schools, or decide to start or end different activities.
You can have a great routine working out with a friend,
and then that friend unfortunately moves nor gets injured. Since

(02:30):
all of these changes are to some degree inevitable, it
is best to view routines more like we view a
rose garden. We have some beautiful roses blooming all summer
by my house. Planting them and getting them to grow
requires a reasonable amount of work. After that, it's more

(02:51):
pruning and watering. But again it's not nothing. No one
plants a garden and says, hey, good, I'll never have
to touch that thing again. Instead, the regular tending is
part of the process. You don't need to plant a
new garden every day by any means. Even after the winter,

(03:13):
there's a lot that's still there that you can work with.
But you do have to do a little work here
and there to make sure that things still bloom, and
you need to replace the occasional plant. If animals are
drought or anything else has worked.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Its mischief.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
When you expect routines to change over time, you can
simply appreciate them while they are working. Then when they
stop working, or when life forces a change, you can
simply acknowledge that such change is inevitable. It is not

(03:52):
that anything was wrong. Something worked for a while, and
now you do something else. The roses will still be beautiful.
They just need some effort from time to time. In
the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

(04:15):
to making the.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the

(04:37):
number four then breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com
that Before breakfast is spelled out with all the letters
thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in
touch Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more

(05:00):
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