Routine and Structure

As a self described slacker, which I mostly see as a good thing, I never thought I would hear myself say "I thrive on routine and structure". I thought the whole idea was to go with the flow and be carried with the wind. But then it hit me in the middle of a snow storm while I walked the railroad tracks with my two large canis lupus familiaris. I was a happy slave to this routine and at ease because the path was predetermined. The combination continues to fill me with a the purest contentment, day after day, along the same stretch of tracks, with the same dogs and the same sights and, often, the same thoughts.

What whirls around inside the head of a slacker counselor? First of all that I need to clarify that I do not shirk my duties as a counselor, I take them very seriously and am often thinking about each of the amazing people that I am working with. I do shirk military duty, and recognition of most other moments besides the present one. That is all. And I sometimes counsel slackers. So the name is apropos I think. And funny in the sense that I only have a few clients, for which I do tie my shoe laces most of the time.

But the thoughts are always about life. How do we live it, day by day? How do we get the most out of it? How do we continue to become this wild living thing that we really do not know perhaps even as well as others know us?

Inside the mind of each person, it seems there is an incredibly needy animal. And no matter how low key and relaxed we are, it is a struggle for survival to meet those needs. It is so easy to take it for granted, to grab a piece of bread and cheese and keep going, but the fact that so many of us struggle with who are we, what are we doing, who likes us, who is angry with us, who we are angry with, who loves us, who we can love. . . let's face it. We are high maintenance. Each one of us. And while each thing deserves to be attended to as it comes along, it is through routine and structure, once we find out what works at any given point in our lives, that we become less needy and can rely on something outside of ourselves or others. On the infrastructure of our daily lives. Not questioning who laid the tracks or when they will end, but just walking along them as they lay themselves out before us, for as far as we can see.