How important is routine to you?

Sounds totally reasonable and agreeable to me.  I seem to have a bit of an issue with "the structure of time"....so that does not "chime", but the fundamental drive and "commitment" is very me.

Oooh that’s interesting! 

I get up at 7.54am in the morning. Not 8am or 7.55am but 7.54. I watch the clock and wait for the click to 7.54 which is not a sound but a change of time. I make myself a drink and go back to the bed and put the tv on. Then I get up at 8.25. Not 8.30 but 8.25 just well a habit. I watch the click when it gets near to it. I will get up not at 8.24 or 8.26 but 8.25. 

I eat the same margarine. I have Tahini on my bap each lunchtime I like to have the same brand of Tahini. 

I have phobias and they get worse at Christmas. I am not sure why. Food phobia can be worse because there are no buses on Christmas Day?? Also Christmas day can seem like an isolated landscape with a symbolic image of such. 

I go to a certain cafe three times a week and like to go at the same time and sit in the same seat and tell myself I will stay 1.5 hours. Not all of it is phobic I can change stuff but kind of do it anyway???

Well just weird huh!!

Did you know that the word ‘farfalle’ means butterflies in Italy? Hence the shape of the pasta.

I can do penne but only if it is with tomato based sauce. Anything else and it’s a no. 
For me it’s farfalle - the bow shaped one, that’s a definite no. 
Also I once had teeny tiny pasta that I think is meant to go in soup. Also a big no. 

I find it fascinating. I love that we just understand that things like this is are just ‘normal’ to us… I don’t think I’ve ever discussed my severe dislike of certain pasta shapes with other people before! 

Thank you for saying! I was kinda dying to know. 

I don't like penne either, but that's just because it's harder for me to pick up than other kinds. 

THANK YOU SLOAN - for me it is Penne - I cannot abide it. 

Oh I totally agree on the pasta shapes!! I can’t even explain why it matters so much! But there are some that I just will not eat. 

I'm pretty heavy on routine, but more in the order I do things, especially at certain times of day or when I'm struggling with anxiety.

I might struggle if I couldn't do the things I've been doing to get calm before eating in the evening, but different brands don't bother me much. I put a lot of effort into being okay with different foods because I don't want to be that restricted. 

Cool 

I literally do everything 'by the clock'. Every day.

I don’t like change but I don’t really think routine is super important to me as long as I feel in control of the situation.

Having said that, I am much more productive and happier when I have a routine it gives me purpose.

I always thought I was pretty chill about things, eg. different foods etc, but recently my online shopping provider substituted my pasta for a shape I CANNOT BEAR and I realised I was being autistic about it. Some pasta shapes are just wrong to me. 

My spread matters too.  There is only one that I enjoy.  The others are not right.

You can substitute the word "spread" for most things in my life.

So although I have defined ways of doing things, my life would certainly not be identifiable as following many routines......whatsoever. 

There are certain parts and aspects of My life that are very strictly routine driven (I have OCD also, so suspect that this comes into play with this, particularly with counting steps and actions that I’d repeat daily). 

There are other aspects of my life that are much less routine driven, like being at work, where I have less control over how the day works out. I feel my home routine is more structured to kind of compensate for this lack of routine/control during the day. 

I fully get the butter situation. There are some things like that, that would just get to me and I couldn’t deal with. 

I work in education and although there are elements of routine (or at least an attempt at them!), you don't really know what will happen from one minute to the next. Weirdly, I have learned to expect and accept this. I don't ever believe the plans for the day 100%, so I don't get overwhelmed when they don't work out. I kind of plan to allow for the unpredictable.

During the school holidays I struggle with the lack of routine. It almost paralyses me. I achieve very little, hide from the world and feel miserable. 

For the most part I think I can handle changes but then every so often one will come from left-field and I will be filled with rage and an inability to handle it. The seemingly little things are the absolute worst. The wrong butter would send me to hide in a 'duvet cave' for 24 hours, but I can handle a pupil having a nosebleed all over my lesson materials. Go figure!

My routine is the most important thing to me. If it's broken it destroys me, mentally and then quickly physically soon after. A meltdown may occur, not always but usually. I plan everything well in advance in the hopes that I can keep my routine going because the consequences when it breaks are too much to bear most of the time.

Hello, routines are important and I need to plan my week ahead in order to get anything done. Last minute simply does not work. I do find I can make small changes if I feel life is getting stale and this is a big help.

Routine is really important to me. I have a meltdown every Christmas because everything is so different, even if I'm otherwise enjoying myself (or would be, if I wasn't so upset by the loss of my usual routine).

I do not like change, at all, but 'liking sameness' I would not class as the same as 'reliance on routines'. Routines, in the sense of events dictated by the passage of measured time and order of occurrence, are not part of my life. I have such a slippery hold on the passage of time that such routines have no real meaning for me. I certainly have no reliance on them.