You ever wake up in the morning and have that sense of dread that you’re going to have to go through the motions of the typical day yet again? The same pattern of going to work and coming home to rest up, only to do it all over the following day. I bet even if your job is super interesting and you love it to bits, the sameness of everyday adult life will still grind on you at times, as it certainly does for me (I quite like my work).
Even the small things can become irritable, like making the morning coffee. Yup, here I am waiting for the water to boil for umpteenth time; got to steep the beans for four minutes for the flavors to soak in; time to press out the grinds and pour the coffee into a cup; ah, it tastes just like it did yesterday; well then, moving on to the next task that I also did the day prior. I can see why entertainment is such a huge part of people’s lives: for most it’s the only opportunity for something different in the day; a new episode of a television show to be excited about and look forward to.
Stretch the horizon outwards, and it can get rather depressing; the fact that you’re largely going to do the same thing every day until you die. The novelty of significant life events such as marriage and childrearing will only be new for so long before they too settle into proper routines. Repetition is all there is, though that’s not necessary a bad thing: doing things day after day and making small improvements constantly is how we grow and improve. Life is a game of compounding, after all: there are no eureka moments without the grueling work. Andy Dufresne doesn’t escape prison without picking at the same cell wall for 19 years.
But some days, the repetitiveness can also become a prison of its own, and it’s on those days that I have to remind myself to love and enjoy the process - at all times. If this life of mine is determined to be so, then I have to okay and happy with every part of it, and stay in awe of the tiniest aspects. It’s easy to push often-performed tasks into the territory of mindless muscle memory, and we must reverse that tendency by slowing way down and really notice each little step.
When making coffee: I listen fondly to the gushing of fresh water as it flows from the faucet into the boiler, and then the randomized, wondrous grumble as the water comes to a boil. I smell the aroma when the hot liquid hits freshly-ground beans; keep my nose to it as they steep, the smell permeating ever stronger. I pay attention to its color as the coffee pours from the press into the cup, and savor every sip as if each taste is a newfound discovery. Coffee-making isn’t at all complicated, but how you perceive the task can turn it from boring routine into wonder.
Because the processes of life will keep repeating, so might as well love every bit of it.
Nothing quite beats walking out at the end of a Friday workday.
