Dog Day Out
"Every dog has it's day."
Ever since I was a child in elementary school, I struggled with breaking routines. I remember often being the first among my siblings to wake up, the first to use our shared bathroom, and the first to head out the door. I thrived on routine during this time. For some reason, I thrived under pressure to perform well and fed off constant feedback, like graded papers with a smiley face and a sticker. I HATED school holidays and weekends away from campus!
Around my junior year, I got my first job as a cashier at McDonald's. It wasn't a bad gig for a 16-year-old, but unfortunately, this is where I learned what burnout is. I became conscious of the dead ends that surround the service industry workforce. I trained unique employees who were older than my parents, which caused me to feel small and very young in the grand scheme of my life.
So, I had to leave that job and I got another one. I quit that one too and eventually started attending university. Unfortunately, to much distaste of my grandmother, I ended up abandoning university too. How do I go about being such a quitter? It's the habit, one that keeps you suspended in never ending closing shifts and early morning lectures, when I've had enough it feels easier to end the routine ultimately than work through it.
The grand thing about discovering a ritual as a young adult is knowing how to break it in the healthiest, most comfortable fashion. Sometimes it can be a challenge to squeeze yourself out of the sluggish shackles of your day-to-day life. But a challenge is useful for you. At this present time, I'm still working a part-time job, but I enjoy this one a lot more than the ones that preceded. I maintain a great routine at this job! I treasured it, but days get moved around and now I find myself with considerably more free time. Another significant challenge I've been facing is the "bed-rotting" poison that used to plague my free time. In the worst way, I lost so much motivation to the addicting scroll of my iPhone, it was dreadful. My health was on a steady decrease and I relied on distractions to delay my routines, even just for a little while. I felt my precious time being squandered and I understood I had to find a path out of this.
So now, at my big little age of twenty-one, I’ve made it my mission not to slip down that slippery slope again. These days, I get about two to three days off each week, and I dedicate those days to myself, my family, my dogs, and importantly, to creating. I bought a small digital camera on eBay to help wean myself off my cellphone dependency, and it has been meeting my needs well!
One way I found to break my constant habits was to simply, go outside. The climate in Texas is unbearable 80% of the year, but when it's pleasant out, I aim to spend as much time outside as possible. Recently on my day off, my dad and I ventured to one of the largest parks in Houston. I brought my two dogs and my digital camera and set off into the tall grasses, the windy trails, and the maze of planted trees.
The feeling is torpid, to be out in nature knowing that I'll soon retreat into my air-conditioned cave of screen-time and over processed foods. At least while I'm out here, I can take lots of silly pictures of the creatures I love most!
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