When I hear the word structure I initially have a feeling of resistance. Why should I have to go by a schedule? I’m old enough to make my own decisions throughout the day right? I am an adult. My time is my time there’s no room for debate.
There is also this interesting paradox. I am a Special Education Teacher and I thrive knowing exactly where I’m supposed to be and what I’m supposed to be doing each hour of the day. When I don’t have this structure at work I feel lost and drained. So in this area of life I thrive on structure but in my personal life I rebel against. I know how much my students thrive on structure on well and do my best to provide it to them.
Structured at work and resistant to it at home, it’s quite the cognitive dissonance.
I’ve been considering my relationship with structure am curious to experience what my life would be like with more of it. As I’ve built a better relationship with peace, I’ve realized that there is a way to combine peace and structure to build a life that is attuned and aligned. Let’s consider this idea.
Peaceful Structure is not about controlling every single moment of your life but instead having support posts (structured times of day that support freedom) that help contain your purpose. These support posts are behaviors that provide the most future positive energy. Here is my list.
- Keeping up with laundry
- Budgeting
- work boundaries
- Groceries
- Animal Care
- Home
If I can do these behaviors consistently and use them as posts I can then have more peaceful times after the tasks are done. I think that’s one of my patterns. I spend so much time thinking and considering about the task that I don’t start and it will take me three times as much time to finish.
The structure that I am going to work on incorporating into my life is Peaceful Structure.