The Case for Breaking Out of Routine

I’m restless.

This year has been an unexpected rollercoaster ride. Yet I’m still itching for adventure to experience new places, see new things, and break out of our day-to-day routine. Call me crazy, but I’d like to walk into the woods and just be for a bit.

Anyone else resonate with that?

Luckily adventure is coming in a big way! We depart for our RV travel in just a little over a week. We’re heading north first since Michigan is so lovely in the summertime. We’ll also spend time in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado before we make our way home.

We’ll be hitting some big national parks along the way, such as Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, etc.

We plan to return around the end of October.

If you do the math we’ll be traveling for about three months.

This year has been wild on so many levels.

I could talk about what we’ve been doing since Mike lost his job and we ironically hit our FI number around the same time. I could talk about our financials. How our net worth has only dropped about $20,000 as of the end of the second quarter. This, despite dropping a fair amount (though far less than budgeted) of cash for a brand new truck to tow a new (to us) RV…

Instead of what if things go wrong, what if things go right?

While the job loss wasn’t in the plan, we knew extensive travel was once we reached Financial Independence. So, we’re executing on the vision we’ve had since ~early 2019.

Three months is a long time to be away from an area we grew up in and generally like; our house we’ve lived in for 13 years, our families within a 15-minute drive, our friends, and all the places we frequent. There is nothing like the comfort of knowing where to get the best Mexican food, and where in the grocery I can find the particular loaf of bread we like.

Our routine is a well-oiled machine, starting anew each day from the coffee cups we grab each morning, to the time the dog (yes, even the dog!) gets anxious because he knows it’s time for bed. Everything just flows along, one day into the next. It’s comfortable and cozy, rinse and repeat.

Everything is, I hesitate to say, easy. But, it is easy. And let’s be clear it was set up that way on purpose.

When we moved into our home in 2011 we had just started establishing our careers. For over a decade we worked hard, moving up career ladders, participating in leadership programs, etc., always pushing.

We also picked up some self-deprecating habits along the way, such as productivity addiction, associating value solely with income, and frequently sacrificed our physical and mental health for the sake of working hard in our jobs.

Because our lives were so hectic and stressful we established routines around our environment for one purpose: to survive and keep going. And hey, it worked!

When we were working, I felt like our only goal was to get by; simply survive.

Even before Mike’s job loss, when I wasn’t working, I still felt we (as a couple) were just getting by due to the weight of his role’s mental load and stress.

Now we no longer work and are letting go of the stressful, survival mode associated with maintaining a career. But I still see the residual effects. After all, old habits and routines die hard, especially after years of strict reinforcement.

While there are (many) moments where I treasure our routine and how idyllic everything feels, by definition routines keep our day-to-day lives unvarying, unimaginative, and habitual.

At times I find it difficult to resist the pull of our routine.

When a friend asks us to enjoy an afternoon hanging out at their pool, I question if we should (why?!). Or, when we get to that dreaded “where do you want to go to eat?” on Friday night. Somehow we have a hard time coming up with new options, despite saying on the regular, “We should try that new place.”

For this very reason I’m ready to break out of our routine and environment in a way travel uniquely provides, especially over the course of three months.

While simply surviving served it’s purpose (did it?) during our working years, I’ve come to clearly realize that is not how I want to live.

Now that I’ve had time for reflection, I hated the feeling of just getting by when I was working, when Mike was working. My gut seemingly knew this was not how I wanted to live.

I want to experience life in ways that can only be achieved by breaking out of our routine. I want to flourish, thrive, and all the messiness that comes along with it.

Will we enjoy traveling in our RV for three months? Will adventure help me feel as though I’m thriving? Stay tuned!

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