When I got home from traveling last week, I found myself returning to many patterns and habits that traveling forced me to suspend.

As I’m approaching middle age, I started to wonder if I was getting set in my ways. I want to stay young, vibrant, and effective. Could these habits mean I’m ossifying and becoming sedentary?

While I could look at it that way, I find that I’ve found patterns that help me get things done, stay healthy, stay calm, and so on. They also relieve me of mental struggles, freeing me to solve problems that I care about, not trivial things like what to eat for breakfast.

The novelty of seeing new things that comes with travel is exciting and can be fun, but I don’t think anything matches the emotional reward of developing a passion and getting things done in that passion.

I wish I had found many of these patterns and created these habits earlier. I see them as a platform or foundation—a structure I’ve built on which I can build more than I could without them.

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