The following quotes are shared here, thanks to Google:
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ~ John C. Maxwell, American author, speaker, and pastor.
“Over time, as the daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit.” ~ Twyla Tharp, American dancer, choreographer, and author
“A champion doesn’t become a champion in the ring, he’s merely recognized in the ring. His “becoming” happens during his daily routine.“ ~ Joe Louis, American professional boxer who reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949
The word for today is “routine,” which is really anything but routine.
Among its definitions, when used as a noun, routine can mean habitual or mechanical, according to Meriam-Webster. As an adjective, it can mean commonplace or ordinary.
To me, routine is more important than that. And thankfully, after five full months of pandemic anxiety and concerns in my neck of the woods, lifting weights has again become part of my routine. I returned early Thursday and Friday to the weight room at Loras College, which is open only to students, faculty and staff during limited daily hours. At 6:30 in the morning, I was the only person in the place.
Coincidentally, I had a follow-up appointment later Friday with my doctor. In the two years I have been seeing him, I have lost about 30 pounds. My blood sugar has gone down even though it’s still too high. My blood pressure and everything else is really pretty good. The doc said he thinks I will benefit from getting the weight room back into my routine — something that hadn’t really been possible since mid-March.
For me, at least, it was tough to maintain good exercise and eating habits while I was socially isolated at home. I need to get up at the same time every day, pray a little to start the day, read the newspaper, drink some coffee, sit down and write something here, go work out (which really has to emphasize resistance training), get dressed and go to work. What I have just described, on a good day, are my hours between 5 and 8 a.m. or so. Doing these things in that order has a big impact on the entire rest of the day. Missing even a day or two of this routine makes it easy to miss a week, to miss a month, to completely stop.
During the early weeks of the pandemic, while we were all in the house, I managed to walk a lot and bike a little, but I never felt as if I had a well-established routine.
So I’m glad to be getting back into a familiar regular routine even if daily life is completely different for all of us because of the pandemic. It can’t hurt and will likely help in meeting the goals my doc and I have set.
Even if I had been unsure about all of this, the Bible verse I studied this morning reinforces the point: He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Psalms 23:3
I’m happy to be back on a right path.
Brome Hill 