{"id":1254,"date":"2021-05-12T04:18:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T04:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2021-05-12T04:18:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T04:18:06","slug":"tuesday-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/news\/tuesday-nights\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have a ritual on Tuesday nights. Calling it a \u201critual\u201d sounds much better and more professional than describing it as a \u201cbad habit.\u201d Pro athletes have rituals for God\u2019s sake. When I used to play a lot of competitive tennis, my coaches encouraged rituals. Bouncing the ball a certain number of times before you serve or spinning your racquet with a specific frequency before bracing to return triggers your focus and allows you to operate like a machine. I never had a killer serve or a power forehand. My net game was alright and my slice was just pretty good. I would win because I never gave up. I could stay out on those hot South Carolina courts for hours on end. I was a champion at the mental game, and I was also a really nice player. I killed you with both consistency and kindness. You know people hate that, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For almost a month now, each week, on this day of the week, after I hustle all day on various projects, eat and exercise, I take a very-late-afternoon nap. I\u2019m talking fully-under-the-covers with no clothes on at 5:00 or 5:30 pm. I\u2019ll wake around 7:00 pm. Sometimes I\u2019ll allow myself to linger in the bed with the cats for one episode of Forensic Files. Then I\u2019ll get out of bed, put on some sweats and a t-shirt<\/a>, drive 200 yards to Starbucks, pay $2.44 for a small black coffee and then come home to settle down in front of my laptop. I turn on the music, close out all windows on my browser, put my phone in another room to charge and then work on a blog. After I wrap the blog, I take a shower and film the next episode of Thirst Trap 101. Sometimes I\u2019ll finish as late as 1:30 a.m. Then I\u2019ll cook dinner (remember this is a \u201critual\u201d and not a bad habit\u2026) and eat in bed while watching some program about trying to get away with murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Tuesday night agenda gives me some anxiety beforehand. It\u2019s like when I used to practice law and had an upcoming contested hearing down at the Family Law Center. Even though I was always over-prepared, I still I got nervous. There were always a lot of eyes on me. And, even if it was over a minor discovery issue, I don\u2019t like to lose. Afterwards, actually win or lose, I always felt so good. It could be 10:30 am and I would have that wonderfully exhausted feeling that you only get when you\u2019ve worked hard and done your best. I now get that same feeling on Tuesday nights, or, rather, during the very earliest hours of Wednesday mornings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rituals have helped me cope during the pandemic. In the height of the lockdown, I still went on my daily powerwalk. In the evenings, I took a drive for about forty-five minutes before coming home to take a bath, cook dinner and then watch some tv in bed before going to sleep. The habitual behavior comforted me during all of the stress and fear that was showering over all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also started a daily routine of making sure that the kitchen was meticulously clean before heading up to bed. I started this practice without thinking and got such strange satisfaction during and after its execution. It was only after some time that I realized I was mimicking the behavior of my late father. It\u2019s very hard for me to write those words, \u201clate father.\u201d It doesn\u2019t make sense to me because while performing this kitchen ritual, I started to feel like he was in the room. I do not mean in a ghostly way. I just mean that the memories of him were so thick in my mind it\u2019s as though he never died. I exacerbated my emotions by blasting XM\u2019s 70\u2019s on 7. I listened to James Taylor and the Bee Gees because all of their songs reminded me of him. My dad really loved the Bee Gees. I don\u2019t even know if anyone knows that he did. I know though. He said it one time when we were driving to a tournament in his white Blazer before he turned up one of their songs on the radio. I have no idea where we were going, how old I was or why I even remember this. I\u2019m just sure glad that I do \u2013 because now I really love the Bee Gees too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My blog isn\u2019t a self-help or how-to-guide on anything. But I would now like to give some brief, unsolicited advice. When it feels like the world is crashing all around you and you have no control over anything, remember that you do have control. You have 100% control over yourself and your actions. If you set a routine and stick to your agenda, it makes you feel safe and like there actually is a structure around you that prevents that crash from falling on you. I\u2019ve never actually made the connection and realized the almost perfect dual meaning of the word \u201cstructure\u201d until just now. 1. People crave structure. 2. You live in a structure. Both keep you protected from the outside elements. I love that. I love words. And, I bet you can now see why I love Tuesday nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have a ritual on Tuesday nights. Calling it a \u201critual\u201d sounds much better and more professional than describing it as a \u201cbad habit.\u201d Pro athletes have rituals for God\u2019s sake. When I used to play a lot of competitive tennis, my coaches encouraged rituals. Bouncing the ball a certain number of times before you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seersuckerstud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}