Really, I can’t imagine it gets much better than this!  Every morning – out of a lifetime habit – I attempt to fathom some obscurity which is calculated to disrupt my day, but instead I can only contemplate whether I should get out of bed now or wait a moment.    I persist in imagining there is a cloud upon the horizon. My hardened anxiety may have something to do with the days before I jettisoned the bottle of gin once and for all.  These things require adjustment.

Habit can be a good thing, no question.  When however the routine dominates one’s spirit, it may at the very least dampen enthusiasm not to mention wipe aside any particle of creativity, reducing one’s conduct to predictable, unimaginative and tedious response. Admitting ingenuity into life narrows with age. That business about old dogs and new tricks is not without foundation. I must arrest my natural inclination to revert to hackneyed time tables.  The sources of voice are different.

The normal guidelines of behaviour are no longer reliable.  One may as well get on a horse and ride off in all directions.  Submission – traditionally not a recommended posture – is perhaps the most fruitful attitude.  It quells the activity of the mind and invites choice instead of repetition.  Imagine breaking the boundaries of time limits, doing something out of order!  It may be nothing more condescending than to take one’s breakfast mid-morning rather than before nine o’clock.  Oh, the repercussions!  Will I forgo lunch as a result!  And just when you’re speculating upon the permanent alteration of the afternoon agenda, it occurs to you that it doesn’t matter.  It isn’t even a flippant dalliance.  It won’t matter tomorrow either, nor the next day. Why not take a nap while you’re at it!

It is a mistake to think that alternatives are counsel for indolence.  I have sufficient confidence in the inherent yearning of the mind and body to improve itself that I need not concern myself about laziness.  The old paths of productivity lead elsewhere.  The new avenues of discovery mustn’t be shunned.  The maps and the directions have changed.  Part of the uncertainty which attends is that there is no one but yourself to point the way.  It is open water requiring new navigation.