Two hours she devoted to her diary; two to working by herself in the kitchen-garden; and one to the regulation of her accounts. She seemed to want no company; no conversation. I believe she was happy in her way: this routine sufficed for her; and nothing annoyed her so much as the occurrence of any incident which forced her to vary its clockwork regularity.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to routine - something I do seem to do from time to time.  I used to hate the idea of one, and, whilst I’m not sure I quite fancy the type of routine Jane Eyre’s cousin Eliza lives by, I do see the advantages for me.  The trick (as always) to not expect too much of myself, but still to tie myself into just enough of a challenge to keep me going. I am trying to create a work routine for myself at the moment.  Not just doing things when I feel I can, but setting time aside that is specifically for "work".  I’m trying to be careful though.  I’m not talking 9-5 here, but I am working on a bit of structure.

Of course, one of the great things of having a routine is the ability to break it from time to time.  I’m sure Eliza would have hated that, but there is a great pleasure in sometimes stealing some time to read, take a trip, stop and chat, do something unexpected, or just take a nap.  For a lot of years I think my life has largely only been made up of these "treats", and that has largely stopped them being treats. I want that to change. 

Today though, just a little blogging and some restful TV…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 17th, 2005 at 9:00 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.