The Pros and Cons of Routines

The paved road or the wilderness? Photo by Quinn Corte, 2021.

Listen to the audio version below:

Here are my observations about when routines help me feel better and when they don't. As always, I invite you to throw out what doesn't resonate and pay attention to what does.

Self-care routines can be helpful when:

• I'm experiencing decision fatigue

• Everything else feels uncertain

• Resistance is keeping me from doing the thing that helps most

• Extra accountability would help me make a change

• A personal priority keeps getting postponed

• Showing up consistently is the only way to realize a big dream

• Unstructured time or newfound freedom is making me feel lost or frozen

• I'm feeling stuck and craving momentum

• I have a finite window for self-tending and I know what I need

• I need a small daily taste of something in order to feel like myself

Self-care routines can be harmful when:

• They don't feel good

• I'm holding myself to someone else's standards

• I'm comparing my current situation with a past version of myself

• I'm too focused on results

• I'm starting to be hard on myself

• My days are scheduled to the minute and I need glimpses of freedom

• I'm drowning in to-dos and self-care is another incomplete task

• They're being dictated by someone else, or by a societal "should"

• I'm trying to fix something about myself

• Monotony is making me feel lifeless

• My circumstances have changed and I'm clinging to routines that no longer fit

• I've been doing the same thing for so long that I'm numb

Interested in this topic? Check out my previous post, Ditching the Routine.