I used to hate routine. It’s like obligations, things I have to do, and it feels boring. Holiday is a great way to evaluate all of your routines. Traveling is putting yourself in a new environment, to look at your daily life from a distance.
During the last couple of years I’ve learned to love routines, and to evaluate them on a regular basis. This leads to a positive confirmation of brushing my teeth twice a day and taking a bowl of muesli with fresh fruit every morning. I’ve also started to develop a couple of new routines, like writing every morning (thanks to J. Cameron) and doing some physical exercises (a combination of muscle training and yoga).
New routines often start during holidays. I have more time, so it’s easier to try out new habits. And if they don’t work, I just quit with them again. During travel we often have to improvise on our routines. In Spain or England I will hardly find a B&B with fresh-fruit-muesli. I try other habits, like a sweet pastry with coffee or baked beans with toast as breakfast. It made me realize once more how grateful I am to have fresh-fruit-muesli at home, and keep the routine going.
When on tour, you are traveling too. But the circumstances are much different than at holiday. You have a scheduled itinerary, and you don’t have the choice when to travel and when to stay in a place for a couple of days. In an ever changing environment you have only a couple things to rely on: your band mates, your performance at night and the tour van. Routine will help you to feel at home in this changing environment. It can be the breakfast you take, the way you make the hotel room your home for the next night, or bringing your own pillow, or the food or chewing gum the venue has to get for you, anything.
On tour it’s so good to have routines, they help us to feel at home wherever we are.