Travel

I am sitting here in bed on the road, thinking.

Traveling for work is at the same time a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it allows you to go other places, to see other companies and how they do things, to occassionally see something new and (maybe) try some new food.

On the other hand, it's a curse. I never (ever) seem to sleep well, even with the circumstances of a quiet room, thick bed, and the lack of a child occasionally walking through or Syrah deciding she needs to get up at 3 AM. The silence can also be a bit disconcerting as well - going from a busy office and home to the serene silence of an audit and temporary locations is a bit jarring.

However (me being me), the thing that is the most different is simply the loss of my schedule.

I am a creature of habit. On any given workday morning, I can tell you what I am doing based on what time you suggest to me. This is all completely shattered when traveling - not just from the time rearrangement but from the very schedule itself: no rabbits to feed, breakfast is at a certain time (and not at all what I typically have), most of what I read is not with me, my blog posts may or may not end up on the interent depending on coverage.

But is routine all the good - or bad?

Certainly having a routine every morning helps me to maximize my time spent. I have reached the point that generally I feel that by the time I have left the house, I have accomplished a great deal personally. At the same time, is it all that I could be accomplishing? Could I be doing things differently - or better? Having a routine doesn't allow us to question this - only when we are shaken out of it do we stop to take a moment and question everything: Should I be doing this? Should I be doing something else?

Because like in many other aspects of our lives, we sometimes continue to do things beyond their point of usefulness because we have always done them. Only a new perspective will give us the means - or the courage - to question.