So how do you tell which parts of your routine are load-bearing? I wish I knew, but some heuristics:
Things that are part of your access to food which you’ll reliably eat are often load-bearing. If you get a lot of your calories from the free food at work, you should expect changing jobs to one without free food will throw you off your game. If you rely on the corner store then you should expect that moving to a new place where you have to get int he car to get groceries will be a problem. Going vegetarian can screw up something load-bearing for a lot of people (and I say that as someone who believes that factory farming is morally horrible). Going on a diet is reasonably likely to fuck up something load bearing, and I suspect this is part of why statistically dieting doesn’t work at improving peoples’ lives or health.
Things that are part of the environments you spend the most time in are reasonably likely to be load-bearing.The length of your commute, the environment you work in, whether your bedroom is clean, well-ventilated, high-ceilinged, has natural light, whether you have any space that you don’t share with another person…. for some people ‘having a car’ is loadbearing because it’s a space that is theirs and will reliably have their stuff and get them places. For other people, living somewhere where they can get places without a car is load bearing.
Cleanliness needs are often load-bearing. This one especially sucks because you can get into a trap where your space gets chaotic/cluttered/awful and this breaks your brain and makes it harder to keep your space clean.
Pets are often load-bearing.
This might be influenced by who I hang out with, but I think personal time when you’re alone and no one has any claims on you is load bearing for a lot of people. Some people have their own room and know they need their own room, but lots of other people make do with a long commute where they can quietly listen to the radio, and don’t even realize that this is filling their need for introvert time until it changes.
I think people often have a particularly bad time if they have something load-bearing that’s considered ‘indulgent’ or a ‘luxury’, like ‘living in an apartment building with a pool’ or ‘having a big yard I can garden in’ or ‘having an ensuite bathroom with a tub’ or ‘having a soundproofed practice room’ or ‘having a grand piano’. But, like, having expensive load-bearing bits of your life does not say anything about you morally; it may mean that it’s harder for you to get your needs met, and it may not be a preferable situation, but it doesn’t make you selfish or greedy or bad. And, you know, trying to just not have things you need because you believe you’re bad for wanting them doesn’t often work out great.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 