I’m a creature of habit. I find comfort in the routines of life, the rhythms of life.
I look forward to getting up in the morning and driving to get some soda. I like to drink that soda while doing a few word games on my phone. Wordle, Waffle, Weaver, and Connections are my games of choice. I have a couple of other wordy game apps on my phone that exist to help pass the time now and then, but these four are daily content for me.
I wouldn’t say I’m a slave to my habits, though. I like to do laundry on Saturday and Sunday, but won’t balk at adjusting that schedule as the need arises. As documented here, I like the food I like, but when faced with a need to change that, I’m really quite pliable. (Admittedly, my food habits just switched to a different menu that I tend to stick by.)
So I have habitual tendencies, but I wouldn’t call any of them obsessions.
But every now and then, something comes along that feels like a need. I feel a compulsion to accomplish. And I’m in the midst of such a thing. I’m obsessed with creating and maintaining a running log. Not just any running log, though. I need it to give me stats to compare and show progress. I want charts and graphs of paces and distances.
I’ve looked around for examples of what other people have done, and none of them seem to do what I want. And let’s be clear, I’m not 100% certain I know what it is I want. It’s possible that what I want is just to create. Another thing to be clear on is that I am not a particularly skilled creator of anything.
But I’m trying. Spreadsheets seem to be the way to go for this endeavor. And thus, I need to learn things like pivot tables, vlookups, and countifs. In a way, it’s fun, but the nagging feeling that I’m going to fail keeps it all from being truly enjoyable. To help counter this predisposition to expect failure, I’ve added a page, you can see up top there, “Running Log”, so you, dear reader, can follow along. if any of you are spreadsheet and/or fitness tracker savvy, I’d love to hear from you.
It’s possible this has come about because I’ve not been working these past few weeks, and I am just seeking an outlet. Likely this will fizzle out after the 19th when I start the new job.
What are some of your habits?