I’m innately someone who ‘thrives’ within the confines of a structured Routine. A day made up of constant fundamental lifestyle factors: training at the gym, work socializing etc, often all bundled into regular time slots each week and – mostly – heavily reliant on subconscious behavior and momentum.

In many ways routine is a crucial aspect of any lifestyle geared towards a cause, be it earning enough money to feed yourself all the way to the grandiose goals, such as winning Olympic medals. Such regimes keep the mind and the entire social consciousness focused, which – contrary to the beliefs of skeptics – is fairly pivotal in preserving a sane mind and psychological disarray. For this reason it can become quite easy to get tangled up and stuck of this treadmill of habits.

“A man without a sense of purpose, even one whose bank accounts are stuffed with money, is always a small man.” Stephen King.

However, like most things, even the benefits of a routine at times can become exhausted and cease to serve its initial intent for the ambitious minded, sloping off into a paradoxical life pattern. This is because with personal growth that initially comes from routine, comes a necessity to change and improve on dated habits, without doing so leads to inevitable plateaus.

This is comparable to training in the gym, with the sole intent of stimulating muscle growth: a weight and Training Programme that initially elicited hypertrophy, will not be sufficient in doing so 3 months down the line. The muscle growth initially experienced was merely an adaptation to the stress the resistance of the weight training programme instigated, now the body has adapted change is necessary for future development. At such a time you or your personal trainer will piece together a new regime: a plan of action to continue working toward your goal. The same logic applies to any goal in life.

It is for this reason why it’s crucial to separate yourself from your routine for a few days to a few weeks to allow yourself to reflect on the existing state of progress and if necessary, form a plan.

For this reason holidays shouldn’t just be viewed as frivolous experiences, but actually a necessary tool that all of us can profit from!

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