It takes two weeks ...
... to adapt to your environment.
... to settle into a routine.
... to regulate your emotions to those around you.
... to understand the rhythm of your day.
... to create routines.
... to know what your next meal and tonight's bed look like.
... to regulate with the food, air and water.
... to feel at home.
Right at the beginning of our lifestyle transition, I lived in segments of two weeks for what felt like years. (I'll leave a table of those two-week blocks at the bottom of this post.) Through those many two-week blocks, I learned it takes two weeks to really feel at home in a totally new environment. So many unexpected things change with new places, people and activities, each resulting in equally unexpected changes to your own behaviors.
For me this idea captures many aspects of the experience of this lifestyle: rapidly adapting to changing environments, while creating a robust set of routines and familiarities that are flexible enough to stand each new environment. Jesse and I could tell you the aspects of a routine that makes up a solid, healthy day for each of us without much hesitation. Unfortunately, incorporating those principles and applying them every day are a whole different beast.
In the more organized lives of my past and future, routine and efficiency go hand-in-hand: your coffee setup is dialed to your preferences, you know where the forks and knives are, you know when you'll do your next load of laundry and you probably know where you'll get your hair cut next. As we grow to understand this lifestyle better, we'll find a whole new set of behaviors that work for us, whether we're two hours, two weeks or two months into a new environment. Similarly, we feel lucky to be able to sample so many routines and experiences, all informing us which we'd like to carry forward into our own lives.
Briefly, here are the two-week stretches of how I lived from March - August 2024:
Photo for the thumbnail, my old commuter bike.
