Changing my routine

I'm thinking seriously about changing my routine. For 15 or 16 years, I've written a long journal entry each morning. I get up, use the bathroom, feed the cats, and sit down to a cup of tea and write 3-4 "morning pages" in the Julia Cameron tradition. I use it to ground my day, empty out the trivia of the day before, come to grips with my dreams, record the early morning impressions of weather and health, put down any more emotional or intellectual musings. It is a form of meditation. Then most days, I get dressed and go to the gym, or take a shower and head into my work day.

No matter what my schedule, no matter how early I have to get up in order to have at least a half-hour of writing time, I do it. And now I'm thinking about rearranging things.

If you've been following my other blog, Sober Truths, you know that I'm on an adventure to reorient my relationship with food. And I'm wondering if I need to reorient my relationship with time and my activities as well. What if I wrote on my novel every morning for two hours before I went to the gym? What if I wrote my journal each night after dinner? Would it become an obligation instead of a joy? Is writing two blogs and a long journal entry daily writing enough for me as a writer? Would shaking up my schedule shake up my food habits as well?

I have almost complete control over my time and yet I feel hemmed in by obligations of my own making. I think there's something really central to this last idea. Something to mull over.