Yesterday was a very typical, regular day. Perhaps could be seen as “boring”, to some.
But I was thinking (during my Les Mills Core class at 6:15 last night (fitness class #3 of the year so far! Aiming for average of 2/ month and so far hitting that goal), I like regular days.
I mean, I totally understand the appeal for mixing things up and having little adventures and not getting stuck in a rut. But I am glad that I genuinely like my typical day to day life. (Seems obvious and hopefully most people do? But I bet it’s not the case for everyone.)
Some typical days are better or worse than others, of course. But yesterday was just a NICE typical day. Routine, but smooth, calm, balanced feeling, and included a lot of the “this makes a good day for me” items.
I had my morning routine time + tea. Read, time log, planned my day.
I walked the dog. (Short 10 minute loop only and it was cold, but still. An enjoyable 10 minutes.)
I took a shower and got dressed in real, but cozy feeling, clothes.
Ethan had a scheduled telehealth visit at 8:30, so I attended that with him, from the comfort of our sunroom.
I got myself a fountain iced tea to drink at my desk before diving into work. 😉
It was a good work day. Only a couple meetings! (yesssss. Very heavy meeting days are NOT my favorite.) I was working on things that were interesting and kept me engaged, but I didn’t feel stressed out.
I made a chicken stir fry dish for dinner on my lunch hour.
I went to a fitness class at the gym from 6:16-6:45, and then did 20 minutes of cardio (rode the bike while reading Harry Potter, lol!). Ivan met me at the gym; he sweated his face off on the stair mill. (*He’s really getting into a good routine now with gym sessions 2-3x/weekly! So happy about this!)
We had dinner as a family.
I read a few blogs, bought tickets for the conference swim meet this weekend for my parents, answered some emails + cleaned out some old photos, while drinking some vanilla caramel tea in the sunroom after dinner.
Ivan and I started a comedy on Netflix by the fire (only watched half so far). (Amy Schumer’s latest, Kinda Pregnant. It’s about exactly what you’d expect from an Amy Schumer comedy. 😆)
I got to bed on time.
Nothing out of the ordinary. But these ordinary days are what make up the backbone of my life, and I think it’s important to recognize them.
The exciting days and vacations and new adventures are always going to stand out more in the highlight reel. But finding happiness and contentment in the mundane, the regular stuff…. I feel like that’s my ultimate life goal!
When I think of conversations with my many transplant patients from over the years, they aren’t usually thinking, “I want a transplant so I can travel to the French Riviera.” What they really want most is their regular life back. They want to be able to walk the dog. Cook their own dinner. Have enough energy to watch a movie with their spouse and not fall asleep. Run errands. Unload the groceries. Feel good. Enjoy life. 🙂
What’s your most favorite part of a typical, average day??
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for text messages. Since I don’t drive very much anymore compared to a few years ago (no commute/ Ethan can drive/ fewer practices etc that I’m driving to), I seem to have lost my biggest “phone call” window. I realize that I used to do a LOT of my chatting or catching up in the car. Now, I just don’t have that built in opportunity anymore, and coupled with a busy job, I struggle to always fit in phone calls. So, I do a lot more texting to stay in touch now, which may sound shallow, but I really never feel that way. It just… fits in better, honestly, and it still keeps me feeling really connected with “my people”. Case in point: from Sunday to today, I have racked up a total of 92 back-and-forth texts with my mom, 49 with my dad and 48 with my sister. Haha! 🙂 💗
Bonus comic:
GRATEFUL KAE 
I’m with you. I love ordinary days. One of my “guest post” questions is to have people describe their perfect day. It almost always involves relatively ordinary activities. Eating with a spouse. Spending time with kids. Enjoying a warm beverage. Simple pleasures really do form the backbone of life (and I think it makes those few BIG moments – like a trip, a party – seem even more special.
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I’m with you on the ordinary days. I love to travel and explore, but enjoying my regular life is the key to contentment. About 15 years ago I realized my favorite holiday had switched from Halloween, where I could be whomever I wanted and escape from life, to Thanksgiving, where I could just be grateful for my ordinary life, and it was such a happy conclusion.
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I feel like I’ve not got enough ordinary days – like some days I’m teaching in a city 50 miles away, some days I’m at home, some days I’m in a meeting in the nearest city, but it doesn’t stay the same from week to week. I am easily bored but it’s wearing on me a bit to constantly feel like I’ve not got a schedule or routine.
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Love this thought Kae! And as a fellow routine-lover, I agree but very nice to reflect on and think about a bit more in the day-to-day. I love my lunch break during work to drink a Diet Coke, eat a York peppermint patty and catch up on my fav blogs (aka right now). It’s a great 20 min to really appreciate.
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I love this Kae! This is something I am missing for the last 2 months! normal ordinary days!!! I guess I won’t have one until we all move and settle in Brasilia. I am so curious to know what will be our new “normal days”.
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I like ordinary days as well, but they feel infrequent so maybe they aren’t really normal days!! The first week of January featured some normal days and I really tried to soak those up. I would say I prefer my normal weekdays more than my weekends these days since the boys are in a more challenging stage than your teen children! Weekend days can feel really long so even a normal weekend day can be really taxing if I’m honest. But a normal weekday where I’m not on too many zooms and I don’t have to work too many hours can be really nice! My favorite part of a normal day is starting my day with coffee with creamer, scrambled eggs and toast. I love having complete control over what I’m eating which is often not the case when I’m traveling. So today I was so very happy to not eat food off of the buffet! And then I treated myself to a free Starbucks birthday latte so it was an extra special normal day!
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I love everything about my typical day…brewing up the coffee…getting the dog out of her crate and taking her outside…snuggling on the couch with the dog and Hubs…and one thousand other tiny things.
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In no particular order, my morning coffee, NYT games on my phone, cuddles with my dog, reading my book, and walking my daughter to school. Also, at work–meetings with my students, and teaching a particularly satisfying class.
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I love regular days too AND I love your outfit, that cardigan is cute!
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Hee hee… yes, do not get a seeing eye cat!
Yep, I love ordinary days. But sometimes I don’t really think about it, and then when something happens, like I get sick, I realize how much I appreciate my “normal” life. Sometimes I also imagine getting into a car accident and ending up in the hospital (don’t ask me why my mind works this way) and then how much I would long for all the little things in my regular life- running, my morning tea, driving my daughter to school… and then I remind myself to appreciate these things while I have them, rather than having them taken away and only appreciating them in retrospect.
Great post!
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I think there’s indeed something about a routine day that allows us to cultivate gratitude and enjoyment for the little things in life. I posted a few weeks ago about an article I had read about a Welsh farmer who has eaten the same thing for dinner every day of his life and had never left Wales, and what struck me in the interview with him was how he talked about how beautiful autumn is where he lives, and the cuckoo’s songs. He talks about how sad it is that tourists come and don’t take time to really listen to the cuckoo. And the whole thing make me think how it is easy to not enjoy that every day beauty if you are constantly chasing something beyond the routine. Having the routine makes it possible to free your mind to see these little beauties.
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I love my boring, ordinary days! I find I really miss them when I am OUT of my routine because I’m not feeling well or even sometimes when I’m on vacation (weird, I know). I think there is so much joy to be found in loving the ordinary days.
Like Lisa, I think my favorite routine is sitting down to a hot breakfast every morning. Eggs, toast, coffee and my NYT games!
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I need to learn to love my ordinary days. I am a restless person by nature, that often feels that I am running out of time on many fronts, and lives either in the past (regret) or the future (anxiety).
But there is definite beauty in the ordinary. Sometimes I don’t feel like going to work. But I have to remind myself… Have a job to go to? Be thankful. Have a job that you go to and also like? Be extra thankful. Have a job that pays well, provides balance, engages you, and is not that far from your house? Be extra, extra thankful.
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Cheers to an ordinary life! I enjoy my adventuresome days a lot, when we are on vacation or do something fun like go to a concert or whatever, but since the majority of our days are “get up, go to work, eat dinner, go to bed” it’s really good to be lucky enough to enjoy those days.
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