Routine

After the events of the trip, I came to realize the importance of routine. Not only is routine good for your health, but it is good for emotional health too. I am going to say that the one thing routine isn't good for is your mental health, but this is easily compensated by challenging material and times set aside for mental growth.

The first few days back in Oxford were spent re-establishing a routine. All the bad habits that Sara and I had developed over the last couple months out of pure necessity (only eating two meals a day, not exercising, being under stress) needed to be removed.

Sara and I had made a plan to start Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. This routine includes doing 10 days of three levels of exercise. There are no off days, and the exercises are hard, but the results are also made apparent quite quickly. Our first day was the Friday after we got back and today was our 9th day of level 1. We regularly do it at 9 am each morning which serves regulate my sleeping schedule somewhat as well. This was our new exercise routine and other than it killing me when I compound it with Archery fitness on mondays, I am really happy about it. I feel stronger and in some ways healthier.

On the food side of bad habits, I am still working that one out. Upon my arrival to Oxford, I received a package from one of my aunt and uncles which included a number of foods from the States that I either had great difficulty finding or could not get. These included nacho cheese doritos, cheese its (nothing like what's its), oreos, twizzlers, cheddar seasoning among other things. I then also recently received a package from my parents (and another aunt and uncle) which included some baked goods, more doritos and cheese its as well as Dove chocolates and Ghirardelli chocolates. So safe to say, my pantry is stocked to the brim with delicious and not exactly healthy foods. I am so grateful to have received them, but it has taken an inordinate amount of will power to not engorge on them all at once. Taken together with a bad habit to at the very least snack every 3 hours, I have not been eating the best. I find myself eating when I'm not hungry just to experience the taste of many of these foods. Taken with my exercise it is severely limiting my results. I will keep working on this one.

The last habit that I needed to break was letting the stress of the travels and any new stress overtake me. I want to say that I have had mixed success in breaking this one down. When I arrived back in Oxford and began returning to my old life and seeing all my newish/oldish friends, I was struck by a measure of dissatisfaction. In some ways, I was hoping for a grander response or a complete removal of the loneliness that I had come to experience while I was travelling. But this was not the case. I instead had to return to the careful tedious social balancing act as the distance did weaken some of the relationships I had enjoyed previously. These feelings have improved marginally as I am once again regularly going to archery and role-playing society and some of those bonds are strengthening again and returning to their old composure. The return to regular archery, both contributing to my emotional and physical health, has lightened my mood quite a lot and also served to make time feel as though it is passing quickly again.

So we have talked about my emotional and physical health, but what about my mental health? I mean, I'm supposed to be at Oxford for an education. Unfortunately, I have once again been confronted with the lack of professionalism in the science departments here at Oxford. After over a week, multiple emails, and the start of term, I have yet to hear from my major tutor (who if you will remember is the same as last term). This is both frustrating and a bit stressful. On the plus side, my minor tutor was very responsive and I have my first tutorial on Monday with him. The topic is Philosophy of Mind and I realize now that if I had gone on to be a philosophy major that this would have been my area of expertise. I really like reading the literature (which includes a lot of science) and just thinking about the subject matter. Though my musings have brought me to realize that I may believe in a form of determinism...which is not what I initially expected. So, hopefully I have a major tutorial soon. Until then, I will work on what I have and enjoy the down time.

One short aside, I had another small world moment this past week. My friend Ben is a part of the Centre for Mediaeval Renaissance Studies (CMRS) which is an entirely international student programme that is only loosely affiliated with Keeble college. They follow a semester system, unlike the rest of Oxford, and often students only come for one semester. So with the start of a new semester, there were a number of new international students. One of which I went to high school with! We met for coffee last weekend to catch up. It is amazing to see where people you knew have gone on to do. To think that a member of my high school class would be studying at Oxford at the same time as me is yet another surprise that makes me happy that the world is so small.

To conclude, I have come to realize that I really appreciate routine. I like getting into a bit of a rut, and having an element of predictability to my life. It is more than that though. I don't think it is so much doing the same thing every day, but doing the same things that I love and find meaning in. Going to archery is a very enjoyable experience and I am happy to do it many days a week. I love the people that are there and I look forward to seeing them. Similarly, Role playing society brings me the same joy and the people garner the same love. Maybe it isn't so much routine in general but my routine, the routine that I have here in Oxford. It is the right amount of repetition and creativity and it makes me happy.

I will share more stories in a week. By then Sara and I will be at level 2 and probably wishing we were still doing level 1.

Adventures Await

KH