On Why I Should Never Leave Home For More Than One Day

I love spontaneity and I tend to be a pretty impulsive person. I'm up for anything, so if you want somebody to talk you out of a 'crazy' idea, I am not your gal. However, I need/thrive on/crave routine. I am at my optimal when things are orderly and scheduled. My best days are the ones when I wake up at 4 AM, start with a workout, stay busy at work, run errands or do chores at home and have only a little down time for reading before bed. I eat the same thing for breakfast every morning (a hot cereal of brown rice with chopped almonds, dried cranberries and blueberries, 1 tbsp of protein powder and skim milk) and lunch and dinner usually consists of one of about 5 variations of vegetables and some source of protein. Some people might get bored by such a lack of variety from day to day. I love it! It makes me a much happier, saner, more pleasant and more productive person.

But, my routine does not exactly come naturally to me. I have worked hard to figure out just how things need to be and, even though I know it's best for me to stick to the plan, sometimes I have to force myself to do just that. The worst is whenever I go on a trip. I love to travel - can't get enough of it. I do sometimes need to get away from all that I am used to and I find great joy in discovering new places, people and things or getting back to the old ones. But it is impossible for me to stick to the patterns that keep me sane when I am away from home. Every "usual" part of my daily life is disturbed...it's great!

The problem comes when I get home. First of all, it seems that lately, any time I leave home for more than 24 hours, I get sick. I came back from Cozumel with a sore throat that lasted three days. I got a stopped up/runny/sneezey nose just about the minute my plane touched down in New York on Friday and now, 36 hours after returning to Austin it has not gotten any better. Furthermore, it takes me several days to get back to normal. My sleep schedule is off; I haven't exercised in a week; I try to put off going to the grocery store until my "regular" day, so now my food supply is lacking; and, shamefully, my suitcase is still lying on my bedroom floor with all of the clothes inside (I took out toiletries, shoes and makeup only because I've needed them). Hopefully I will be back to normal by this evening, but it really is just pathetic what leaving home does to me. I'm beginning to think it isn't worth the trouble!