Oh my do I love my routines. And if you are human, you probably love your routines, too.

Let’s face it. Routines are comfortable. They are comfortable because they are familiar.

A lot of your day consists of routines. The ability to establish routines is a way we conserve energy. Because they are predictable, you don’t have to give much conscious thought to them.

But too much routine can be a problem. It can become a rut.

When too much of your life is driven by routines, your environment becomes increasingly narrow.

When your environment becomes narrow it is easy to fall into fixed, limited patterns of movement. And you rob yourself of the opportunity to move in all the myriad of ways you are designed to.

Use it or lose it.

One place that usually comes to mind where you can easily get into ruts is your work environment. You sit in the same chair at the same desk day in and day out. You are involved in the same tasks over and over.

Another place that might not come to mind where you can get into dangerous ruts is your fitness routine. Being committed to a regular fitness routine is great. But often we end up doing the same routines week in and week out.

Any given activity is going to take you through certain ranges of motion.

The more varied you can make your routines the more chance you have of exercising your full range of motion.

Last summer a friend from out of town came to visit with her two kids, ages 6 and 9. We spent one whole afternoon outdoors in a couple of different parks and playgrounds.

As I watched my friend’s two kids make up games to play with each other and the other kids at the playground, I was reminded of how kids love to play and explore different ways of moving.

It’s called being a kid.

Try being a kid again and try on some different activities that you are not used to doing. Activities that invite and challenge you to move in ways that are not in your routine.

Movement does a body good.

A variety of movement does a body better.

Image: Pavel Klimenko/Shutterstock