When I hear routine I hear boring. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who has this view. But in reality, routine is our best friend as it keeps us steady throughout the day. Having a daily routine is showed to be directly linked to mental health and better wellbeing.
As soon as you open your eyes you feel like you might need to make many decisions. Do you shower first, or breakfast first? Do you use this shampoo or the one you just bought yesterday? Do you have breakfast or just a coffee? Having to take so many decisions early in the morning is exhausting and actually, quite stressful.
Routines help lower anxiety
In order for you to better cope with anxiety, it’s important to take a moment for ourselves and reflect about what’s worrying you. Then try to address your worries or concerns. When you create a daily routine for maybe exercising, writing in your journal, or sleeping better, it allows you to take time and help relax your body. These routines will allow you to adjust and set your own expectations.
Routines bring healthy habits
Before I hit burnout, I feel like I was all over the place. I didn’t like to spend time on taking care of myself. Whenever I felt the need to rest, I felt guilty for not producing anything and whenever I was producing too much, I would feel exhausted. I needed to learn how to find a balance. I try to keep in mind that routine is our best friend as it keeps us steady throughout the day. I’m still working on that simply because I am an energetic person.
Therefore, daily routines are really beneficial for people with busy schedules. Simple things like planning my outfit the evening before, packing my lunch the evening before, deciding what I feel like doing in the morning after I shower or what perfume I want to wear, keeps me relaxed.
I also learned how to dedicate time for physical activity throughout the week. Tuesday and Fridays are my pilates evenings and nothing will take that away from me. I also push myself to take walks throughout my office and to say hello to various colleagues now that we’re back together.
Routines kicks burnout’s ass
Talk about burnout has become increasingly important especially in the past two years. Many factors are responsible for this boom of issues: lockdown, work from home, lack of personal vs professional space, the lack of change in our life etc.
Burnout is not necessarily a pest. It’s a horrible thing to go through, and it can lead to some serious issues if untreated, but on the other hand, if your body wouldn’t pull the hand break, you might end up hurting yourself even more. This is when I learned the power of routine. I learned to slow down, allow my body to rest, recharge my batteries and pace myself. I am now the proud owner of:
- A healthy morning routine
- A healthy sleep pattern
- No snoozing
- Taking many breaks throughout the day to move and let me brain rest
- Take time for myself
- Regularly write in my gratitude journal
- Respect my free days or vacations for what they are – relaxing time.
How to change?
If you aim to change your daily routine all at once, it won’t hold on for the long-term. Take it easy and pace yourself. Rome was not built in a day. So try to focus on small things each week to work on. For example, you could start but quitting some bad habits such as infinite scrolling on social media and replace it with more quality time with your family or friends.
Whenever you need to make changes to your daily life, it’s best to take it step by step. You need to remember that perfection is not the aim. The only thing you’re trying to achieve is having less stress, achieve better sleep patterns, be healthier overall, and in the end, feel happier. And don’t forget that routine is our best friend as it keeps us steady throughout the day.
And if you don’t know where to start, or you feel like you can’t take this journey alone, know that all you can do is to ask for help from a professional.
