In Praise of 'Routine'

I like 'routine'.

I like having a certain structure to my days.  I like having a schedule to keep.  Or not.  My choice, but having that structure gives me something to work towards.  Routine defines my goals and deadlines.

Being someone who is highly self-motivated, I jumped into the life of a professional weaver with enthusiasm.  In the late 1970s it was assumed that if you were a woman and worked at home, you were available for any beck and call on your time.  I had to become very protective of my time.  I had learned early that we only get so much time on this earth and best to not squander it.

So I had a work schedule and I tended to stick pretty closely to it and any exceptions to my work getting done had to be caught up later.   There was no one but me to do it.

Some people made fun of me because I routinely turned out the light at midnight and would get up with the alarm at 9 am.  They would give me a bad time for being a 'sleepy head' and sleeping in so late.  Every time one friend would do that, I would ask her what time she went to bed in order to be up at 5 am?  Because I was still working at 11 pm.

She had her routine, I had mine.

And that's the thing about being self-employed.  We get to set our own schedules, craft our own routines.

Retirement has, for the most part, been an exercise in finding the 'routine' of being retired.  Of getting comfortable with a much reduced level of productivity.

My mornings were always my quiet time.  I'm slow to wake up, slow to get moving.  So my retirement routine of sitting in the easy chair in the window is not much different from my old routine.  What is new is that generally I'm done in the studio by 4 and I may only get to the loom once or twice instead of three or four times.  Or not at all.

The Megado is also slower to weave on than the AVL so while I am weaving, it's at a slower pace.

However, since I am supposed to be 'retired' much of the adjustment has been me, learning how to get comfortable at the new pace, in the new routine.

Tuesday I had the fourth pain treatment.  Today I woke up with minimal pain, even after weaving two towels yesterday.  Now that my pain levels are going down, I realize just how much pain I have lived with for - well - all of my life.  Injuries contributed to pain levels (two whiplash injuries) but also repetitive stress.  The final straw was the adverse effects of the cancer medication and then finding out there were local doctors doing something about muscle pain.  Two people I knew had had the treatments and urged me to try it.  Since beginning I've encountered two others also taking this treatment.

It is NOT for everyone.  You definitely need to be able to handle pain because it is very much a short term pain, long term gain scenario.  It's called 'needling' and I'm getting the dry version - just the mechanical breaking of the fibrous material in the muscles preventing them from functioning properly.  There is also a version where a saline solution is injected.

No it is not like acupuncture.  I've had acupuncture and that doesn't hurt.  This hurts.  But I am willing to go through it because even after the first treatment there was improvement.  After the fourth, I am feeling remarkably better.

I may never be pain free - I have too many other things going on in my body to hope for that.  But I no longer feel crushed by the pain, all of the enjoyment of life squeezed out of me.

And I have hope that I can continue to weave, even on into retirement and yes, 'old' age.  How much longer I will teach I have no idea.  With an overall reduction in pain, I might carry on for that long ago envisioned age 75.

Speaking of teaching, if you missed the announcement, I will be returning to Cape Breton to teach level four and two the end of April, beginning of May, and have agreed to teach level one at Olds College Fibre Week.

Even if someone only takes level one, that level alone is well worth the class (yes, in my not-so-humble opinion).

The program is not a learning how to weave class - they offer a beginning weaving workshop as a prequel to the master weaving course.  But it is a how to weave better program.  It delves into the principles of the craft, encourages analytical thinking, and problem solving.

People sometimes say they would love to learn from me.  Olds Fibre Week, June 21-25.  And if you can't make the class, think about buying my book The Intentional Weaver.  One of the reasons I am so supportive of the Olds program is that it covers many of the things I have been ranting about since, well, feels like forever.