My Little Adventure

I did something different today, I changed my morning routine!

Like most people, I find mornings are a bit stressful. I have evolved a highly synchronized morning routine with very little room for variation. I shower, get dressed, eat, etc. and try to get out the door in time to speed-walk to my bus stop. My morning ritual keeps me safe and sane during the most stressful part of the day. Any perturbations to my routine leave me in an irrational rage. But today I took a risk and changed my morning routine; I rode my bike.

This change required a lot of sacrifice. It meant I had to choose my outfit carefully (no pencil skirt today). It meant I had to wear a helmet and mess with my hair. And most significant of all, it meant I couldn't tune out the world during my commute.

I usually listen to my mp3 player on my way to work and turn my thoughts inward, but when you are on a bicycle, you have to be very alert to the world around you (even more alert than driving a car). I rode my bike out to the bus stop, loaded my bike onto the bus rack, and took a seat. I was immediately fretting about whether my bike was improperly loaded and about to be crushed by the bus, when a stranger talked to me.

I have been riding the same bus five times a week for the last 8 months and for the first time ever, someone spoke to me. Talk about disturbing my morning routine! But it was a fun conversation, she asked me about my bike commute and snapped me out of my worry. We got to talking about bikes and sweating and B.O. in the office and it was overall a very amusing conversation. I got to work, unloaded my bike easily, and rode my bike to the building. I parked my bike in my office, where it looked cute and kept me company all day long (I even had a visitor who stopped by my office just to check out my bike)!

The best part was the ride home. In the morning I had loaded my bike onto the bus to avoid the uphill climb to work, and the reward was riding downhill to home! Easy, breezy, and not the least bit wheezy : ) Overall, the best commute anyone could ask for.

Do you have a morning routine? Is there something you could change about it, and if so, what would you change?