“I love the comfort of daily life’s routines: things like being able to read a paper on the subway. It’s no accident that my favourite word is quotidian.” — Elizabeth Strout
Same old, Same old?
This quote caught my eye because I thought the word “quotidian” meant someone who uses quotes a lot. It actually means “daily,” as in something we have to do on the regular. We all have daily routines. Some days, it feels like the shampoo instructions: “Lather. Rinse. Repeat.” Is that what it comes down to? Do we have to settle into the same chores, tasks, and responsibilities day after day?
It’s easy to get caught up in our routines, though, and then they become ruts that are hard to dig our way out of. They don’t have to be, though; you can flip the script and find a routine with some built-in bits you look forward to, alongside the chores.
Every morning, before I can do any of my real work, I have to do the daily New York Times puzzles. Like thousands of others, I am pretty addicted to Wordle and Connections. If I haven’t warmed up my brain by solving them each morning, it’s like my whole day is off. For some people, it’s a morning run or a Zumba class. For me, it’s about wordsmithing my way into another day.
My problem arises not from the dreary daily routines, but rather with the organization of all the moving parts of a freelance life. I don’t have set work hours; I am a “gig worker,” but I’m sure my father likely would have called it “playing around with five jobs at a time.” Some of it is the work you see here, other gigs are in the vintage/antique space, marketing communications, trivia show hosting, and I notarize documents every once in a while, because who doesn’t want a little excitement in their lives, right?
For me, the routines are helpful because otherwise it’s all very unstructured, which can be an advantage and a challenge at the same time. If an old friend shows up in town unexpectedly, I can usually rearrange some work, hit the Barnacle for lunch, and catch up. The flip side of that, however, is that a gig can dry up instantly or hit critical mass with multiple projects all at once. On those days, I don’t complain about the same old routine because work is work, and it’s always good to have too much instead of not enough.
Then there are the events and changes that came out of nowhere, completely wrecked my established routines, but then turned out to be better than what I’d been doing once I settled into them. My saving grace is a paper calendar book chock-full of Post-It notes, dates, work ideas, and a few shopping lists. Despite my screen addiction, I have yet to find an app or software for organization that works as well as my ratty spiral notebook, with Snoopy on the cover.
It sounds basic, but routines don’t have to become ruts. I have playlists online for different tasks because I know otherwise I will spin around like a shopping carriage with a wonky wheel. When the right selection of “yacht rock” is playing, however, even though I’m not sipping champagne on a 30-foot sloop in the harbor, it makes me feel less like a worker drone slogging through another task on the to-do list.
I also schedule tasks, even if they don’t have hard and fast deadlines. For example, putting “clean out the fridge” on a Google calendar like a work meeting means it will get done instead of being ignored until some package of ham becomes eligible for Social Security because it’s been in there for so long.
Location is also a factor; not being tied to the same office daily keeps the boredom at bay. I recently sat in a park in Boston, hacking away at my computer, writing about recent auctions and sharing a pretzel with some nosy pigeons. I had time to kill while waiting for a friend who had an appointment in the city and needed a ride, so why not change it up? Instead of sitting at my dining room table, with the attention span of a gnat on Red Bull, trying to get the work done while ignoring the snacks on the shelf two feet away, I was in a city I love, enjoying the brass statues of a family of ducklings, helping a friend, and keeping my job.
Flexibility is key, and keeping things both loose and on track can be tough. Find what works for you, revel in the routines that make you happy, and get through everything else the best way you can. Since it’s Monday, I have to finish this work and go on to my next exciting task—clean sheet day. Try not to envy me and my glamorous life.
Brenda Kelley Kim has lived in Marblehead for 50 years and is an author, freelance writer, and mother of three. Her column appears weekly.
