Of Routines And Schedules

 One of the things I find I grapple with mightily is a change in routine.  Needs to have a well developed schedule to contrary, I inherently do not like change - even when it works out better for me.

Since I started training in Iaijutsu in 2009, we have had a variety of class times.  For 5 to 6 years we trained once a week, then we moved to twice a week - Tuesday and Thursday.  This turned out to be very convenient for me personally as it meant that I could perform my weight training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (3 training days).  It was splendid.  Every evening had a training and the days I did not have Iaijustu class, I would practice and weightlift.  Nirvana.

Then, we moved to a new dojo.

The move itself was amazing:  larger space and more classes (almost doubling our time to train).  However, after a bit our schedule changed from Tuesday/Thursday to Monday/Wednesday (and Saturday).  My happy little schedule of training was put into a tailspin.

I tried the option of working out at other times during the day - but I am not a morning workout person (kudos to those who are:  I am just not limbered up out of bed) and lunch workouts always left me feeling rushed (and a rushed workout is not an effective workout).  So I came up with an alternative: Tuesday/Thursdays/Fridays for workouts.

While better, this did not really resolve the issue either.  One really needs a full recovery day between workouts - or maybe a more fair statement is that I do - and if I was not feeling up to it, I would let is slip to Saturday (another day of Iaijustsu training, so often it did not happen).  And, as I am at The Ranch one week a month, by default I either had to work all of that training in or "miss" a session (which would always be deadlifts, which is maybe my favorite lift).

And then last week, the rather unusual thought came into my mind:  What if I worked out on Sunday?

Every Sunday that I am in town, I volunteer at the rabbit shelter.  I literally drive past the gym to go to the rabbit shelter.  Every week.  There and back.  One turn, 300 yards and I am there.  Week at The Ranch?  Conveniently I travel from Saturday to Saturday so my first day "back" is Sunday, so I could effectively finish out that cycle (I do have a body weight set The Berserker supplies me with at The Ranch which is ever bit as fearful as my regular training).  So there as well, I lose nothing?

Sunday as a rest day?  I am already in attendance at church (and very occasionally serving at the coffee bar), cleaning the Mob here, volunteering at the rabbit shelter, and taking care of other things here - so it is not like I am already living this proto-Protestant "Sit in Your Chair All Sunday And Meditate" sort of life.

The single biggest reason, I think, is that it is not what my routine is.

Routines are hard to adjust.  Routines can be schedules, but they can also be beyond schedule, just the way that I go about my life.  I have activities I do in the morning, but they are always in a specific order:  Pray, then Bible, then journal, then on to other things.  If I do it out of order it feels wrong or unnatural.

To my mind, of course, a simple thing like adjusting my workouts in a way that 1) Regularly schedules them; 2) Allows me to not "lose" a workout once every 4 weeks; 3) Actually probably saves me a little money in that it is one less trip I am taking; and 4) Does not stress me out or "guilt" me out when I do not do the workout - all seem like wins.  And yet - even as I write this - there is a certain reluctance in committing to it.

Why?  Because that is not the routine, argues my brain.  And if you do that, you will have to readjust other things (not really as true as my brain says, but it has been known to fudge the truth).  

How odd, that a simple change in order of operation or timing in a non-critical task creates such angst in my mind.