Rebuilding Rob

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

How do you ensure you don’t get stuck just “going through the motions” of life?

It’s very easy to just get caught up in the day routine of our daily wise and feel like we are “just going through the motions”; whether it’s with our kids, with our homes, with our jobs or even our relationships for that matter. It’s very easy to “phone it in” or feel like you’re just functioning on auto pilot

Variety is the spice of life. 

Fortunately, for me, the fact that I’m a teacher automatically inject some variety in my everyday work routine. In fact, let’s one of the newest things about being a teacher. Things are always going to be different from one day to the next. Certain students will be absent one day. There might come a lesson where either students aren’t getting it, or I’m not explaining myself very well. Then, of course there’s the usual twist thrown into the everyday routine at even an average size American high school: clubs, meetings, sporting events. Every day really is something a little bit different as a teacher. I’m glad that and all the time that I’ve already been in this industry, I haven’t lost sight of that.

I’m sure that even for other jobs, I would try to find some ways to inject a little bit of variety into my everyday routine. I’ve never worked a factory job, for instance, but I could assume that it would become my numbing and monotonous after a while. I guess my best suggestion for that would be to interact with different employees. Take your breaks in a different place every day. Try to do something to change your routine, even if it seems less efficient, just for a little bit to change things up.

As for those of us seem to spend more time working our jobs than we do living our daily life, I invoke the words of the great Dolly Parton, who once said “don’t spend so much time making a living that you don’t make a life for yourself“. She’s a wise woman.

Meanwhile…

It’s interesting that this prompt about “going through the motions“ comes up today. Beyond just thinking about a really monotonous job, the first thing that comes to mind when I think about. “Just going through the motions” if somebody who’s dealing with some level of depression.

I mention that because kid one is still struggling a little bit at school. While I was working yesterday, I got a call from X1. She was still planning to go out to see him this weekend, as it is “parents weekend “at his university. I originally was going to go as well, and then since I went two weeks ago, I was Going back-and-forth on making a second trip out in just three weeks.

But x1 sounded very troubled by what’s been going on with kid 1. I won’t get into the details, but one is worried that he’s going to wash-out of school. At this point, I am too. But I have to remind myself that if kid 1 was to return home, it would not be the worst thing in the world. “Not only

Is everything going to be okay, but things are ARE okay”. I told him 2 weeks ago. X1 and I try to remind him that there are a lot of very smart, very talented people who try to go away to school for the first time right out of high school and they just can’t quite cut it. It’s a big jump being a list entirely independent for the first time in your life. Not being able to do it right out of bush school is not a failure.

At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ll be in my way to Madison at this time tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:

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• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
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The article “on phoning it in, and self-perceived failure” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.