I bought a couple cheap torchieres from Walmart, which my intellect tells me is obviously the best answer until you do some future lighting overhauls.
As far as routines, some routines are crucial. This blog wouldn't exist if Steve didn't have a writing routine. There are always necessities: workout routines, personal hygiene routines, bill paying routines, sleep routines, etc., that can and should remain constant when they work well.
Meanwhile, you can open yourself up as many other possibilites as you like in the other aspects of your life.
To illustrate, if I moved to New Zealand tomorrow I could still easily exercise daily, keep the same hygenic habits, pay bills on time, etc.
I tend to believe though that just as there are "best practices" with the smaller things in life, like personal hygiene routines (always brush and floss daily) or fixing a hardware issue with a PC (always check the cables first), there are probably also best practices for the larger things in life too, like what sort of career to have, and where to live. The answers might not be as obvious, but they are there.
Always live somewhere peaceful. Always build a career based on service. And so on. Exploration and open mindedness are the tools we use to figure out what the best practices are, in any context.