Structure: My Missing Link?

So in the last few weeks the one thing that has been really bugging me is my lack of structure. Freedom is fun and all, but it has it's place, like on vacation or if you ever get truly financially independent. For my personality, I do like some level of routine and responsibility and that is sorely lacking these days. Structure and routine are with us our whole lives. When you are young structure comes from parents and of course school with extracurriculars. As you get older work sets the structure because it takes up the majority of your weekly time, friends and family fill the gaps.

Well, my no work has led progressively to less and less structure. Today I realized that has been factor in any funks I've been having. Last week really messed things up with being sick, interview stress and of course Mr. Man's situation. The sick part made me tired, cranky and threw off my morning run routine. All the other stress and busyness just compounded my structureless mess!

Today I've made a resolution of sorts: Get control of the day! No more oversleeping and getting hypnotized by daytime TV. I was able to restart week 6 of running with no ill effects, which is the cornerstone of routine re-establishment plan. Since job search is still part of my day I will do that early, and then by God I'm going to start using my time better. There will be visits to museums and parks. DC summer is pretty wicked unpleasant, but my building has a pool, so I should utilize it. There are still movies to see and books to read. Really plenty of things are out there for me to enjoy and to help structure my day more.

Getting control of the day will be a challenge, but it has to happen. If I'm going to be out of work I might as well enjoy some of this time. Sometime in the next few weeks I will get a job offer and then work will be back to help enforce structure. In the mean time I need to be a wee bit more motivated to set my own structure. Better to enjoy my time than be be annoyed by it!