Structure and routine help us to feel grounded and safe. There was a time when society contributed to that framework for us; but today we see less and less of it in our ever busy and technology filled world. Some examples of how I experienced that structure when I was a kid (in the 70’s and 80’s) include:
- Sunday was a day of rest. As a family, we went to church and then spent the day in relax mode.
- Stores were closed on Sunday; on weekdays, you had to do your shopping before 5 pm or you were plum out of luck.
- There was “phone time.” My sister and I had about a 1/2 hour tops before my Dad would tell us to not tie up the line.
- We didn’t have TV’s in our rooms (and there were no computers or laptops yet) so when we went to bed, we read to help relax our brain.
- My Dad worked an 8 to 4 job; supper was at 5.
In today’s society, it is often hard to escape the frenetic pace that consumerism and technology has created. Heck, we can buy things online at 2 am if we don’t feel like going to a 24 hour Walmart. Our society may have changed, but our need for structure and routine remain; it becomes important for us to establish our own limits, our own family’s framework in order to establish our own structure. Society may have dropped the ball on this one, but we need to remain in the game 🙂
Photo credit:Â https://unsplash.com/@timmossholder