The Quirky Importance of Rituals in Life

Rituals are like the unsung heroes of our daily existence—quietly working behind the scenes to keep our lives organized and pleasant, much like the trusty sidekick who never gets the credit in a superhero movie.

Every morning, without fail, I roll out of bed like a sleepy burrito, shuffle down the hall to my kitchen, and engage in a high-stakes battle with my super-duper coffee maker. After successfully punching that button (a feat worthy of Olympic gold), I go to my office to power up my PC. Then, it’s off to the guest bathroom for a shave that could only be described as a “close encounter of the hairy kind.”

This morning ritual is as essential to my daily life as a mother’s milk is to a newborn—except, you know, with less crying and more caffeine. But wait! There’s more! I have meticulously crafted rituals for lunch and bedtime that would make even the most fastidious engineer nod in approval.

We all have friends who have lost the ability to follow rituals, and their brains can’t find a way to follow simple routines. I’ve had friends and family members who’ve lost that vital part of their personhood, relying on others to nudge them into action. My oldest buddy has reached a point where his wife must provide him with detailed, step-by-step instructions just to shower. Watching people who’ve lost their grip on rituals really highlights how crucial they are in our lives.

My earliest memory of ritual dates back to grade school, when I’d wake up at 7 AM, bundle up like a marshmallow, and run up the road to our two-room schoolhouse. My job? Building fires in two stoves—one for each room—before sprinting back home for breakfast, all for the princely sum of five cents per fire. I was blissfully unaware that rituals would sneak into every corner of my life, like an uninvited guest at a wedding party.

Now that I’m an old-timer, I truly appreciate the structure rituals provide. When my wife and I embark on trips that last several days, it’s like tossing my carefully constructed routine out the window and watching it float away like a balloon at a kid’s birthday party. Suddenly, I’m drinking Starbucks coffee (which tastes suspiciously like burnt toast), eating restaurant food (where every meal feels like a culinary gamble), and sleeping in strange beds that seem determined to occupy every inch of space in the room. After a few days of this chaotic freedom, I long for the comforting embrace of my morning routine, the lunchtime sandwich assembly line that my wife runs flawlessly, and my bedtime wind-down ritual. It’s like reuniting with old friends after a long separation— holding my arms open and shouting, “Oh, how I’ve missed you!”

So here’s my take: rituals are underrated and deserve way more respect than we give them. After spending 43 years at our local shipyard—getting up every morning and heading to work, only missing a single day without pay—I can confidently say that rituals are not just important but essential! So, let’s raise our mugs of coffee (or tea for the more refined) in honor of these glorious routines that keep our lives from spiraling into chaos!