A New Routine (My Life in a Musical)

I'll be the first to admit that I am a creature of habit. I have my routines and habits that have been developed over the course of a number of years and they have provided me comfort because I felt like I found my groove. Some of these routines and habits were borderline obsessive and compulsive, but overall, they worked for me. During the weekdays, I would wake up at 6:01 am (I do this because my wife hates odd numbers) and then be out the door at 6:35 am (being bald has its advantages). I stop every morning for a 44 oz. unsweetened tea because I can't stand coffee, but I need to to have my caffeine fix. I then travel to work and have my checklist of items I need to do every morning. The rest of the day proceeds with putting out fires that inevitably come up and hold countless meetings. I try to leave work by 5:30 pm, go home and check on my bride and kids to see how their day went, get back on my computer to finish up correspondence through email (now using the delayed send option), and then log off at 8 pm to catch up with my bride on some DVR shows we like. Finally, I get into bed by 11 pm so I can get a solid 7 hours of sleep. Everything was working in perfect harmony until RONA came and screwed it all up. My routine that was working so well for me has been shot because of this pandemic. I feel like I'm in The Ghostbusters movie when they discuss mass hysteria.

I've written before that I feel like everyone should have a walk-out song that describes them perfectly as a human. Boxers and WWE wrestlers do it and when the music comes on, you know exactly what you are going to get from that person. My walk-out out song has changed from time to time and COVID-19 has given me the opportunity to choose a new one. As the father of a burgeoning actress and a huge fan of musical theatre, I have made the determination that my new walk-out song will be Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) from Hamilton.

For me personally, the world has turned upside down, and I have been forced into creating a new routine that will work for me so I can make it through this pandemic. Rather than pushing this change away, I have embraced it and looked at it as an opportunity to do better and to be better. I'm spending more time with my family, I am working out more, I am taking guitar lessons online, I am learning to enjoy the subtle things that I overlooked prior to this pandemic.

The reality of our current situation is that we can hold on to the past and hope that this thing is over very soon so we can go back to normal OR we can choose to use this time as an opportunity to do some really good self reflection and make some personal changes that will allow us to find more balance in our lives. It isn't too often that we are ALL afforded the opportunity to do this because the world doesn't turn upside down for everyone at once. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you are going to embrace this opportunity or squander it. For me, I'm choosing to do the hard work now to develop new routines and habits that will change me for the better.