Going Through the Motions

SHOWERS-FERRIS-BUELLER_610I’ve started to realize that there are some things I do so often out of habit that if I break from that routine by accident or design, the entire system comes crashing down. Even basic, daily-life kinds of things. Especially basic, daily-life kinds of things.

For example, I shower the exact same way every day. This isn’t OCD; rather, I just kind of space out for 10 minutes and do the same things I do every day in the same order.

I won’t bore you with the exact steps I walk through in the shower, but I can tell you this: If I change even the slightest thing by accident, it throws off the whole system. Like, I always wash my body before doing anything with my hair. But say for some reason I turn to the right instead of the left during this procedure.

Instant chaos.

It’s like this jolt to reality, and I’m left at a loss. I’m wide awake in the morning–I don’t drink coffee–and let’s be honest, I work at home now, so sometimes this shower happens around 3:00 in the afternoon. This isn’t a case of sleepyhead.

Yet with that simple mistake of turning to the right instead of the left, I’ve pulled myself out of going through the motions, and inevitably I’ll end up missing some key part of showering, like rinsing or trying off. Two hours later I’m still walking around my condo naked, soaking wet, toothpaste in my hair, trying to figure out what happened.

Does this ever happen to you with something you mindlessly do every day? What happens when you slip out of that routine by accident?

8 thoughts on “Going Through the Motions”

  1. I completely understand your issue, Zoolander. There’ve been times when something small has thrown off my shower routine and I’ve completely forgotten something because my process was off. Similarly, I follow the same mindless routine for getting myself from bed to my car on a work day. If I need to alter something (like remembering to bring a change of clothes for a soccer game on a Monday), I have to physically put the items in my normal morning path, otherwise I’ll forget about them completely 90% of the time.

    Reply
    • Trev: Does having Will require deviations in those normal routines? I would think he would be the X factor that would prevent you from having precise routines anymore.

      Reply
  2. You are one of those weird people who wash body first then hair!? Makes no sense!

    Anyway, the only time that my shower routine is out of wreck is when I haven’t had enough sleep. One time I washed my hair twice and still asked myself, “Did I wash my hair?” I think I washed my hair twice or I just wet it… I don’t remember.

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  3. Seriously, how can you wash your body before your hair? Don’t you realize all the nasty hair germs germs contaminate everything again? Haha.

    I consider myself a huge creature of habit. If anything messes up my routine…. whoa buddy, watch out! I think my habits are more broad in scope, like drinking a cup of coffee when I get home from work. When things keeps me from my afternoon cup of coffee, I might as well pack it in and go to bed. I’m so jealous of your work schedule. My “real job” just keeps getting in the way!

    Reply
    • Seth: Okay, now that several people have said it, I might need to try this “wash hair first” thing. I think the main reason I do it the other way is so that I don’t have to deal with water/soap in my eyes for the rest of the shower.

      Coffee drinkers are fascinating. It’s something I don’t understand at all, but I’m fascinated by it from the outside, like watching monkeys in a zoo.

      Reply

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