Routine is....Restricting

WARNING: This post is a bit self-indulgent! Hey, I did say this is a blog about the woes of being a young professional living in a city, didn't I?

I've always been a person who lives by a routine. I grew up with a lot of anxiety and I never really took part in outrageous activities. I was always told that I have "an old soul." Some of my college years were particularly stressful as there often is no routine in college. Some days I didn't have class until 1pm and other times I had to be up for 8am. Throw part-time jobs and internships into the mix and there really was no cohesive structure to my weeks, and it stressed me out! When I graduated in December, I wasn't sure how I would react to my new professional life. I was excited to have my 9-6 job but I knew that I would be bored with my nights and weekends. So I decided to start this blog to occupy my time and I have become pretty active in downtown Hartford revitalization by assisting Common Ground in their grocery store efforts, becoming active with the Tenant Association in my building, and joining a number of other Hartford activists in efforts to revive the city. I also joined the downtown YMCA and have become active with SpringBoard, the young professionals group at Hartford Stage, and am hoping to get involved with HYPE (Hartford's Young Professionals and Entrepeneaurs).

Ok so that all sounds like a lot but, on a day-to-day basis I am finding routine to be...restrictive. Especially since I am living downtown, a 5 minute walk from work, I feel confined to the same 5 blocks at all times (even my gym is within the same radius). My thought is that this is part of adulthood in general; even if I was living outside of downtown, I would still drive the same route to and from work every day. I also think that maybe there just isn't enough to do in my neighborhood, or maybe I don't have the money to do the things I want...living on a budget/being cheap seriously limits my social calendar. Also, when I first moved down here I had a boyfriend. Companionship certainly makes transitions easier, and it gave me something to look forward to after work. Now, living in a small studio apartment with no cable and extremely slow internet, I'm trying to find ways to entertain myself at night and ways to stay social. Thank god for netflix and my dog, right?