Why do people get stuck in endless routine and don’t understand how to get out of it? Morning: phone, shower, clothes, work — and suddenly it’s evening, you come back home drained like a lemon. Or the opposite: the morning seems free, you sit down at the computer “just for a bit,” meet someone — and suddenly four months have passed. You begin to analyze, and in that time almost nothing has changed. Heaviness sets in, along with a sense of emptiness.
How to get out of this routine? How to leave it behind the fence?
How to understand that you are stuck?
First: most people don’t realize they live in routine. It seems to them that everything is “normal and natural.”
Signs of a fulfilling life: you feel that you are living. Events can be different — good or bad, interesting or boring — but there remains a sense of richness, a variety of emotions. Even if the day was spent walking in the forest, inside there will be a sense of fullness.
Signs of routine: constant anxiety, the feeling of a “trauma” of each day, loss of richness. Time flies by quickly, leaving apathy, loneliness, and confusion.
Is routine bad or good? In essence, approaching each day from the position of life itself, from the understanding that you need to work and do simple things, is very good. But approaching tasks from the position that “these are hateful routine things” — that is bad. This is the big difference. If these are repetitive actions you do with the understanding that this is real life — whether good or difficult — there is nothing wrong with it.
Is routine equal to something bad?
The word “routine” sounds like something unpleasant. But that’s not exactly true. Repetitive actions themselves are not bad.
If you treat simple actions as part of real life — cooking for your children, feeding the dog, watering the plants, holding meetings — this is normal. This is life. But if you perceive these same actions as “heavy routine” and hateful duty, then they begin to destroy you.
Why does routine feel even in useful things?
It’s strange when a person does something useful but feels routine. This means they are expecting instant gratitude from life. “I do good — life must give me something in return.” But this is a mistake.
When you expect returns for every action, a sense of emptiness arises. But if you just work — because that’s how life is, because it’s natural — then the claim against the world disappears.
The problem is that we often do good things with a hidden expectation of reward. And if there is no reward — apathy and the feeling of “Groundhog Day” come.
What to do instead of expectations?
To get out of routine and truly scale up, you need to give up the expectation of “reward from life.”
When you stop demanding instant returns, a new state arises — hearing and feeling yourself. This gives strength and energy for the next step. And while a person is stuck in expectations, he cannot change, cannot build a new tomorrow.
The chain is simple:
- Give up the desire to “take everything from life.”
- Enter a state of presence and self-hearing.
- From this state, energy for growth and scaling is born.
The mistaken approach
Life cannot be reduced to math and bonuses, like in a company where everyone has fixed salaries and bonuses. Life does not work with the formula “do good — get a plus right away.” Trying to translate everything into a “cost-benefit” scheme destroys the inner state.
The main mistake is the desire to constantly “take from life.” And this is what the modern world teaches: take everything you can. But this is exactly what leads to the feeling of endless routine.
The key shift
I am not suggesting giving up success, money, travel, creativity, or good relationships. On the contrary — all of this is possible.
But the path there lies through the rejection of constant greed for life. Only by giving up the urge to “take everything” can you feel the joy of each day. And it is precisely from this joy that the energy for true growth is born.