Sometimes a bullet of earth shattering wisdom will reach across all triviality and, as the poet Rilke wrote, “You must change your life.” I’ve long debated the merits of living a freeform creative life versus a structured, scheduled one. Having never heard a really convincing reason for why scheduling my life is awesome, I’ve been fancy free instead. Yet all of a sudden, here’s a good reason.
When asked the secret of happiness, the Dalai Lama said without hesitation, “Routines.” Curious. Then months later in a completely unrelated book, Annie Dillard in The Writing Life wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net of catching days. It is a scaffolding upon which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order – willed, faked and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a life boat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living. Each day is the same so you remember the series afterward as a blurred and powerful pattern.”
Instead of just a blur, Dillard means, with a devastating kick in the pants. All around Oakland, creative people are not just dreaming, but opening pop-up stores and restaurants, knitting graffiti and homesteading the ‘hood. Going public seems to require solid schedules and lists that make dreams come true. Is that why I’m long on experiment but short on accomplishment?
So I’m going to challenge myself with a daily schedule that I’ve failed miserably at in the past – and I challenge you to try one as well. This night owl is going to attempt waking up at 5 a.m. every day. The existential dillema is this: Is meaningful work more fun than beloved sleep? I’ll report back every 7 days for 21 days – the supposed minimum time it takes to create a lifelong habit – to see if this veteran boho has the willpower and cajones of the Dalai Lama. Wish me luck.