A recent Cup of Jo post made me think of the rituals in my life. Or routines. But rituals seem more weighty, and joy filled.
Unemployment ritual: a weak skim cappuccino with honey and the newspaper read from cover to cover.
Sleepy time ritual: a shower, then into bed. Ear plugs in. Lip balm on. And a real book – none of this digital stuff for this traditionalist.
Sunday ritual: church. I walk there, and usually walk home (if I don’t get the train to my parents). And Sunday evening is earmarked for dinner at my parents. Only the very special get me to ditch my parents for them on a Sunday 😉
International airport ritual: I now walk all the way to one end of the terminal to the Starbucks, and get myself a coffee and their amazing caramel slice which isn’t chocolate topped, but has this amazing golden little nuggets on it. That’s a holiday started RIGHT! (I used to be about a Macca’s (Aussie for McDonald’s) breakfast, and occasionally associated travel with their hotcakes – be it a road trip or a flight)
When I feel restless or unsure or just need some structure… I head to a spreadsheet. I have one listing the clothing I bought, date and price, each year. And another, which I list all my clothing items by type. Countless ones tracking different financial things – like what other apartments in my building sold for, and their cost per square meter. I have spreadsheets for who to send Christmas Cards to; and previously, postcards. Some years, when I’ve had a mix match of leftover cards, I’ve been sure to annotate who got what, lest they get the same card next year (assuming they’d recognise the duplicate of course).
The banal: every time I leave my house, I use my foot to hold the door open, as I check, again, that the keys are in my bag. I live alone and being locked out is an inconvenience!
The comments are golden. I’d like to be some of these people:
My once a week ritual used to be eating Chilled sweetened condensed milk in a hot steaming bath. I used to buy a few cans and stash them in the fridge just for this… I will get there again one day 😉
I love airport rituals in particular! Such a thrilling feeling to be going away. I love browsing the newsagent and paper shops at airports. And yes, always McDonalds for coffee (I don’t mind admitting I really like their coffee.)
It made me smile at the thought of using spreadsheets to calm restlessness! 🙂
The Cup of Jo comments are lovely! 🙂
Cup of Jo is just so lovely!
It’s lovely to feel these small joys of things we do regularly or irregularly.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I realized I have a lot of routines but not many pleasurable rituals. The main one is that I make my own espressos every Saturday and Sunday morning and make a point of not leaving the house for a few hours. And don’t get dressed until I have to, or lunch time, whichever comes first! When the weather cooperates, I go for a 45 minute walk at lunch time along a harbour-front trail outside of my workplace. I also find solace in spreadsheets!! Within my routines (as opposed to rituals), I find chopping vegetables quite meditative.
It’s tricky to separate a routine from a ritual, but I consider ritual to be things that bring pleasure.
That walk sounds divine!!