Last night I realized I felt pretty crappy.
My neck was stiff, my head hurt, and my entire body felt tight.

Wait, I thought, I recognize this feeling.
It’s how I used to go through most every day.

In fact, I felt that way for most of my adult life until I started a daily yoga routine,
and then I became relaxed and loose.
And that’s how I’ve been for the past year and a half: relaxed and loose.

Last school  year I’d get up at 6:00, put on my yoga togs, wash my face,
and then feed my kids and pack their lunches.
Zebu and Wildebeest were out of the house by 7:05,
and I’d go straight into my little "yoga studio" for my session.

I did not pass GO,
I did not loiter in the kitchen,
and I most certainly didn’t get lured to the world wide web.
I did what needed to be done.
(And then I passed GO, stuffed my face, and surfed the web).

This school year, the boys’ schedules are scrambled and by the time they’re out the door,
I’m hungry.
Really hungry. 
I don’t want to do yoga, dammit.
I want food and coffee.

And now my body is suffering from a yoga-deficit.

So I’m trying to establish a new routine,
one that allows for flexibility (pun NOT intended).
I’m telling myself it’s okay to eat in the morning and
it’s okay to do yoga at 11:00.
Really, it’s okay to do yoga at any time during the day.

And the same goes for my writing which is also suffering a disruption in routine.
It’s okay to write at any time during the day, as long as I write.
Because in the same way I now know/remember how crappy I feel when I don’t do yoga regularly,
I know how out of sorts I feel when I don’t write every day.

So.
Routines are great, until they’re not.
And then it’s time to create new ones.

Routines that can bend and flex with my daily needs.